‘Isolation of youngsters’ blamed for surge in knife crime

YOUNG people not knowing how to speak to each other in the “real world” could be contributing to rises in knife crime and violence, a former chief crown prosecutor has warned.

Nazir Afzal, whose nephew was stabbed to death in the street earlier this year, said social media and online forums had desensitised many members of the younger generations.

Speaking at a conference in London discussing knife crime, so-called county lines drug gangs and child sexual exploitation, Mr Afzal said the typical response online is to retaliate and escalate if someone is confronted and the “isolation of young people” was a real concern.

Mr Afzal, who oversaw prosecutions in the Rotherham sexgrooming scandal, said: “Children and young people don’t know how to talk to anybody any more. They speak to people online.

“When they face people in the street in the real world, they don’t know how to de-escalate a situation.”

He told the audience at the event organised by Resolve, which works to tackle anti-social behaviour: “They are not talking to each other. They are not meeting up and learning certain skills.

“The Government is not interested in that side of it because it’s difficult. We need more police officers, youth services and children’s services.”

The number of first-time knife crime offenders has risen by 25 per cent in the last five years, with more than 14,000 caught in the year to June, official figures released last month showed.

The proportion of repeat offenders sentenced who had previous convictions for similar crimes has also jumped to nearly 30 per cent (5,774), the highest level on record, according to the Ministry of Justice.

Mr Afzal’s nephew, Hazrat Umar, 18, died after being stabbed in Birmingham in February.