Monjola Year 13

04 Oct Monjola Year 13

Welcome to the first of this academic year’s articles from Monjola. Monjola is starting her final year at JRCS and is aspiring to enter the world of journalism. She will be contributing regularly to The Seagull with some of her thoughts and insights on what is occurring both around the world, in Britain and more locally in our community. Her insights come from her as a teenager growing in our society…

Miss Campbell

Deputy Director of Sixth Form

“Monjola’s Insights”

Is knife crime finally en route to a steady decrease in Britain?

It is fact that knife crime has been concerningly persistent in its attempts to make a dent in our society. For young people, this has been in the form (for far too long, might I add) of a lingering distress of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with this instantly spiking temporarily after every new case we hear regarding the unfortunate death or significant injury of yet another fellow young person. This problem is unequivocally too far rooted in British society and has heavily affected the experience of growing up in 21^st century England.

Since 2010, knife crime has risen by approximately a third, peaking at certain points across the last decade, including a record high 44,000 offences recorded in 2019, and zooming in to our local area; 486 incidents took place here between 2022 and 2023. These statistics can paint a concise picture of the large imprint knife crime has in communities across the country, warranting a collective productivity to ensure a consistent awareness of what is going on in our society, which is a foundational step in enacting change. This in turn can help mould a precautious attitude that can gradually play a part in transforming the issue so that it is less and less impactful.

“We will make it a mission for our whole country to halve knife crime in a decade.” The words of Labour’s Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, echoing the PM’s manifesto promises, have set our hopes high on the matter, and we should look out for fast action and impactful results from our shiny new government. The latest action taken by Labour has been the law that has taken effect, as of last week – the illegality of possessing, manufacturing, and selling Zombie style knives and machetes – aiming to close the loophole on outlawing the weapons. This law follows an amnesty and compensation scheme which launched in the Summer, to try to encourage surrendering of weapons ahead of the ban. It also comes after a newly founded cross government coalition, surrounding Idris Elba and Sir Keir Starmer working
co-operatively with campaigners, victims’ families, and young people to tackle knife crime. These steps towards creating safer streets seem overdue and Labour quickly pairing its spoken commitments with action, creates optimism around knife-infested streets being on a steady route to eradication.

The Southport stabbings of July remain a devastating incident and a pivotal trigger in stressing the high priority of the government’s responsibilities to intercept the national knife crime crisis. Speaking from the scene, the Prime Minister expressed being “very worried” about the condition of knife crime and went on to assure that “his government will get to grips with it.” Words from the Home Secretary reflected this attitude and repeated Starmer’s promise of the “moral mission” that is Labour’s fight to decrease knife crime. Campaigners saw it vital this translated to” tangible actions” – a view which unsurprisingly seemed shared with Ben Kinsella Trust CEO, Patrick Green, when he told the Independent newspaper it was a “significant statement” from the PM. There is an overarching watchful attitude of the public towards Labour’s reaction to knife crime and it is clear his promises have put a serious pressure on his initiatives to produce considerable results. Due to his heavily weighted promises, knife crime can definitely be expected to be a bigger factor than we think in dictating the public’s response to this new government, so let us stay alert for perhaps some of the biggest improvements to our knife crime problem yet.