‘Knife crime is an epidemic – we need to act now’

This article first appeared on Bristol Live on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

Knife crime has a devastating effect on the communities it impacts. Every life lost is an unimaginable tragedy and our prayers remain with the families of those affected., writes Ndidi Okezie OBE, UK Youth Chief Executive Officer.

But will we make the senselessness of these tragedies a watershed moment for change? When will we say “enough” and really channel resources and efforts into breaking this cycle of failure and death?

Like the people of Bristol, who have mourned the loss of a number of young lives due to violent crime over the last year, we believe that time is now.

As the Bristol Together for Change campaign has quite rightly said, knife crime is a public health issue, worsened by cuts which have decimated vital services and youth provision. In recent months, we have seen a string of councils slash funding for youth services in the face of an ongoing local authority funding crisis, with Birmingham, Nottingham and Kent councils among those making swingeing cuts.

Indeed, funding for youth work has fallen by more than 60 per cent in a decade. Newly published studies from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, supported by UK Youth, reveal that from 2011-21, local authority youth provision funding in England fell in real terms from £1,058.2 million to £408.5m, while the number of council-operated youth clubs nearly halved.

Worryingly, the studies also reveal that when this preventative support is taken away, young people are more vulnerable to crime, with reductions in local youth provision associated with a rise in weapon possession offences, as well as anti-social behaviour, bike thefts and shoplifting.

And this relentless slashing in funding for services for young people comes despite research showing investment in youth work actually saves money in the long-term. UK Youth’s Untapped research, delivered with Frontier Economics, found that for every £1 the Government invests in youth work, the benefit to the taxpayer is at least £3.20 and could be up to £6.40.

Frontier Economics estimates the direct economic value of England’s youth work sector to be £5.7 billion. On top of this, it has found the total indirect value of the youth work sector is £3.2bn to the country, including £0.5bn from decreased crime, £1.7bn from improved health and £0.8bn from increased employment and education.

Studies like this highlight the economic value of youth work, showing its influence on areas from criminal justice to mental health and education. Despite this evidence, we find ourselves still having to repeatedly make the case for sustainable investment into comprehensive youth support for all.

We need a coordinated, sustained and collective response to what has become an epidemic of young death. The truth is this issue is not going away because we are all once again heartbroken from a distance. The loss of these young lives to this senseless violence demands our collective resolve.

The time for passive, fleeting observation has long passed. We have to come together, act with purpose and take a systemic approach to protecting our young people. I join my voice with the people of Bristol and say ‘enough’.

This article first appeared on Bristol Live on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.