Fears over effect of knife crime on young
Incidents almost double in Sheffield in four years
SOCIETY: Community leaders have warned that younger generations are becoming desensitised to the perils of knife crime amid growing concerns over its impact in Sheffield
Leading figures in organisations tasked with helping draw young people away from offending say many issues are fuelling crime in the city.
COMMUNITY LEADERS have warned that younger generations are becoming desensitised to the perils of knife crime amid growing concerns over its impact in Sheffield
Leading figures in organisations tasked with helping draw young people away from offending have told The Yorkshire Post that a host of social issues are accentuating crime in the city.
South Yorkshire Police officers have also spoken of their concerns of the growth in knife crime, and pledged to work closely with youth charities in the area.
Hanif Mohammed, an exoffender who was sentenced to 10 years in jail when he was 24 for manslaughter, is now the operations manager at Sheffield’s
In2Change, which helps to guide young people away from crime.
“It’s not comprehensible for most people why a child would carry a knife,” Mr Mohammed, 37, said. “But put yourself in the position of a child where your father is in prison, you’re being bullied at school, your mother is on Universal Credit and you’re living in an area where violence occurs everyday. You want to have the same opportunities as everyone else, but you have no food and you’re not sleeping at night. This is a way of life for some people.”
Knife crime in Sheffield last year was nearly double the figures from 2015.
While the number of recorded cases involving a knife has dropped slightly in the past two years, there were still 441 such crimes last year. In 2015, there were 271.
South Yorkshire Police was one of the 18 forces in the country identified as being worst-affected by violence last year, receiving £1.6m from the Home Office in October last year to set up its Violence Reduction Unit (VRU).
The VRU’s joint head, Rachel
Staniforth, said work is underway with groups such as In2Change.
“There are many complex reasons behind violence,” she added.
“Many of these young people we are reading about in media headlines – who have been arrested or a victim of violence – have been exploited, and it is something we will not tolerate.”
The VRU has helped 2,444 young people to be educated about trauma, healthy relationships and domestic and sexual abuse, as well as 1,739 young people receiving direct interventions since its launch.
Many young people who have been arrested have been exploited.
Rachel Staniforth, joint head of the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU).