duffer
Well-Known Member
With apologies for the lengthy rant, I get a bit pissed off with the whole "hang-em-and-flog em" knee jerk suggestions to stop kids carrying knives. On its own, it simply doesn't work.
I'll let you do your own research, but when you think about it calmly you'll realise that a lot of kids are carrying knives because they're scared of becoming victims of violence. That's children scared of other children, and children scared of adults.
Whatever solution you want to come up with has to acknowledge that fact first, because just locking a few of them up for longer won't change anything.
In Scotland, they've had good results with a far more rounded approach, treating it as a public health issue. That, of course, costs money and time, and doesn't provide red meat for the Daily Mail.
In the meantime, here's a thought. In the cities (and county lines in particular), knife crime is driven by gangs, with adults exploiting children into becoming expendable couriers and soldiers in petty but deadly turf wars or respect 'beefs'.
If you're buying drugs from these scum-sucking fuckers (I can think of no other words for an adult who exploits a child), and plenty of people are, then to me, you're part of the problem.
Sorry again for going on - as a parent with a soon to be teenage son, there's not much that worries me more than this.
I'll let you do your own research, but when you think about it calmly you'll realise that a lot of kids are carrying knives because they're scared of becoming victims of violence. That's children scared of other children, and children scared of adults.
Whatever solution you want to come up with has to acknowledge that fact first, because just locking a few of them up for longer won't change anything.
In Scotland, they've had good results with a far more rounded approach, treating it as a public health issue. That, of course, costs money and time, and doesn't provide red meat for the Daily Mail.
In the meantime, here's a thought. In the cities (and county lines in particular), knife crime is driven by gangs, with adults exploiting children into becoming expendable couriers and soldiers in petty but deadly turf wars or respect 'beefs'.
If you're buying drugs from these scum-sucking fuckers (I can think of no other words for an adult who exploits a child), and plenty of people are, then to me, you're part of the problem.
Sorry again for going on - as a parent with a soon to be teenage son, there's not much that worries me more than this.
How Scotland reduced knife deaths among young people
Treating knife crime as a health issue has led to a dramatic drop in stabbings: of the 35 deaths of young people in Britain this year, none were in Scotland