The knife is the weapon: the person behind it is where it starts.
Young offending, drugs, knives and gangs have existed for a long time; they are not something new. Thousands of young people every year who are held back by poverty, abuse, addiction and mental health issues get trapped in county lines, offending and gang exploitation. Gang members are getting younger. A gang career lasts between the ages of 13 and 22. At the end of this, they can expect to be dead, in prison or completely disaffected with life.
The last few years have seen the highest number of stabbings since the noughties, with nearly three-quarters of the victims being young black people. Knife crime offences have risen by 81% since 2015 across England and Wales. The age considered to be a prime time for carrying a knife in London is said to be 15. Brutal assaults and fatal stabbings have become synonymous with postcode gangs, which are typically made up of teenagers and young men waging bloody turf wars around Britain. Many of these young people come from broken homes and live in deprived areas. However, not every child who grows up in a dysfunctional, chaotic, broken home becomes a danger to society, but they are much more likely to. According to Ministry of Justice data, the number of children under the age of 18 convicted of murder in 2023 was 26, while there were 34 in 2022 and 28 in 2021.
The Metropolitan Police recorded nearly 15,000 knife offences across the capital in 2023. Every perpetrator comes with a backstory that often reveals a violent past. Every murder ends in two murders being committed. The offender often ends up getting murdered through a revenge attack. The actor Idris Elba (who launched the Don’t Stop Your Future Campaign) is working to reduce knife crime in London. The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, aims to halve offences over the next 10 years. He will increase penalties – including custody for the most extreme cases – and lengthen the list of banned knives. But will any of this be successful enough to stem the flow of a problem that continues to escalate? If not, what might some of the answers be?
More and more children are being recruited into gangs who deal in drugs and guard their territories with threats of violence. Boys who are desperate for a sense of identity and belonging are ripe for groomers by older gang members even before they have reached their teens. One common grooming technique used by these older gang members is to buy the younger boys – often hungry owing to a chaotic home life – food such as fried chicken, fizzy drinks and sweets. The youngsters are left with a misguided feeling of being cared for, even loved, and a sense of gratitude to the older boys, many of whom have access to designer clothes, watches, vapes and drugs thanks to their own illegal dealing.
When a young person joins a gang, they soon discover there is no honour, no boundaries and no real loyalty. Finding out who you are is impossible when you are constantly in conflict with what you are seeing. There is hardly ever a sense of anyone looking out for each other – or if there is, it is either superficial or short-lived. Those who join gangs, usually fatherless young people, come from poverty. They are looking for a sense of belonging. They want to find their place in the world but invariably end up finding the worst kind of role model – somebody with no position in society. Young people are willing to sacrifice everything, including their best friends. It becomes an issue of killing or being killed, and therefore, you have to stamp on people to get what you want, owing to the pressures involved. They feel this is the only option available to them because staying loyal means they either get murdered or end up in prison.
Gang members use their own street language with much of it deriving from the Caribbean. Ordinary people are unlikely to decipher what these young people are saying. It is like a foreign language requiring an interpreter. Some of the vocabulary includes words like splashed (stabbed), sweets and stones (bullets), corn (ammunition), mash means (gun), bun (shot), smoke (kill), fry (shooting), opp block (enemy block), on volts (intent on killing).
Kent
The gang scene in Kent (where I live) is small, albeit getting bigger over recent years, but it still pales in comparison to the size of the London gang scene. It’s simply not on the same level. A small number of gangs are spread across Kent – e.g., there are two in Medway Towns with drug rivalry activities between white youths and Eastern European youths (Slovakian). Young people living in Kent will also ‘work’ doing county lines for gangs in London. Nevertheless, there is a serious youth violence scene in Kent consisting of knife crime that is sometimes not linked to either drugs, county lines or gang culture. There are small fractions of rivalries in Medway, but this is usually among the lower socio-economic and those considered ‘outsiders.’ In other parts of Kent, including Gravesend and Dartford, there are probably between 10 and 20 small gangs operating. This ranges from a few home gangs (involving less than 6 people)) and larger Somalian gangs who have relocated from East London. Some of these may only sell ‘weed’ believing that because it’s cannabis, it isn’t breaking the law that badly – although most gangs sell any class drug if there is an opportunity to make money. The root cause behind the formation of the gangs is always the same: poverty and the lure of getting hold of money or things like PlayStations, phones and trainers.
Education
In education, Black Caribbean pupils are 7 times more likely to be excluded from school than any other ethnic group. In 2021/22, 44% of all exclusions were Black Caribbean, despite them only making up just over 10% of the school population. Official figures show that excluded children rarely return to mainstream school. They are cast out to the fringes of an already overstretched education system. Most excluded kids end up in a pupil referral unit (PRU) – a segregated school for youngsters for whom no mainstream school can be found – or in an Alternative Curriculum Provision (ACP) offering a limited school curriculum with small class sizes. The culture of carrying a knife has become ‘normalised’ – viewed as being cool and a fear-driven expectation of getting involved in a fight or being assaulted.
Those in PRUs and ACPs are especially at risk of knife mentality. Some will carry one because they think others carry a knife and that it is a macho and fearless thing to do, which will earn them respect. They are also seen as dangerous places where troubled children come into contact with other disaffected and marginalised peers. These educational provisions have a high turnover and a distinctive shortage of male staff denoting shockingly poor investment. They are also often criticised for having poorly trained staff, which often sees one person taking on various roles and functions. Better recruitment is needed to attract more suitable candidates with a greater knowledge and understanding of disenfranchised young people.
It is also felt that young people are put in an environment that is contrary to helping their behaviour with lessons lasting 50 minutes, which many struggle to sustain. These young people have behavioural issues, anxiety and depression and unmet (and often undiagnosed) learning needs. Anxiety manifests itself in different ways, with some young people finding it difficult to articulate how they are feeling in environments that are non-nurturing and threatening. Having a greater emphasis on sports is also something that is felt important. Hitting boxing bags, for example, can alleviate pent-up anger and aggression. There should also be more outdoor activities, including kayaking, rather than having active teenagers cooped up indoors for long periods. Ultimately, more diversity in sporting activities is needed away from youth centres, which are viewed as uncool. Therefore, better links in the community that promote sports for disadvantaged teenagers may hold the key to solving some of these problems.
Hugo
Politicians are useless. They are more interested in looking like they’re doing the right thing than actually doing it. They don’t want to acknowledge it. This would require action, investment, and listening to professionals. This would entail the distribution of wealth and targeting the poorer areas where the social problems are over-prevalent. If they said or admitted that they were the problem or had created the problem, then something would need to be done about it. It’s much easier to blame the individuals, cultures, circumstances, behaviours than it is to actually address it. It is seen all over society and perpetuated by white middle-class England. A lot of these people who live in ivory towers or have silver spoons in their mouths don’t want to admit or acknowledge this stuff happens for two reasons – because it doesn’t affect them and their fancy lives. They talk about bringing back National Service. Well, let me tell you, this would only reinforce their trauma. Here are young people who have never received any respect in their lives – so why would they find it in a military-based programme that is usually ex-military, burly men with big egos and their own mental health problems? Look at the way ex-servicemen get treated in the UK. The attitude of some police officers doesn’t help either. There are racist officers who enjoy confrontation and use divisive language about young black people, e.g. words like ‘beast’ and ‘superhuman’ about young people who put up a struggle during arrest. Hugo – social care worker
Identity and the Mindset
Robert Sapolsky, the well-known American author and Stanford professor who has done extensive research on race and poverty over the years, has said that when it comes to these two factors, research has always shown the lower the social rank, the greater the stress, resulting in violent crime being committed in the poorest areas. Sapolsky’s book Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (2017) might help society understand why so many young black people kill other young black people. In this book, he states that every act of human behaviour has multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, and even centuries, right back to the dawn of time and the origins of our species.
There is a lot of ego among young black men on the street. If someone disrespects them, they feel the need to retaliate and show their manliness. This is often a mindset inherited from their ancestors in, for example, the Caribbean, where petty rivalries between different islands often occur. There are many different types of cultures among young black British people – for example, those whose parents and grandparents originated from Africa and those who came from the Caribbean. It is essential that young people learn about their history and their diaspora, which will assist them in developing a better sense of belonging.
Currently, society is overwhelmed with so much misinformation that reality has become blurred and warped with toxic ideology by the likes of Andrew Tate – the social media influencer who peddles the unhealthiest of masculine and misogynistic traits about emotional detachment, physical power, superiority and the treatment of women. Teenage boys are easily influenced and anything that sparks their idealism or gives them a structure is welcomed and becomes a comfort. Look no further than the conformity of early adolescence, when the greatest danger to a teenage boy is to be perceived as different. Boys want to fit in, and in their teenage years, they are developmentally searching for meaning in their lives. As already mentioned, many will have undiagnosed learning needs, while others will exhibit anger issues as a result of earlier childhood trauma and the inability to emotionally regulate, with exclusions from mainstream schools for disruptive behaviour being disproportionately high.
Drill Music
While music has always been blamed for some problem or other, the real blame lies in social problems like poverty and social exclusion. Drill music justifiably gets bad press with its often-flagrant glorification of gang violence by popular rappers. Common features in these lyrics are about gang rivalries, drugs and money. British drill music, in particular, is primarily associated with murky drug-fuelled gangs which involve networks of young people recruited to deal drugs in provincial towns across the country.
Life aint a game, life aint da same. Fit, Im a ride till I got shots up in my frame Im sholtin in the rain, Hustlin my name, can’t tell me bout the struggle cause I been through the pain Yeah my lifes real, if what you feel. My Stonebridge man bang bang till you kill. Its true known facts we do hold straps. And will let it pop off if you wannna chat and dats dat. If a act flash then I make a run when I’m cookin back mash. Cock it back flash, watch his blood splash. It its dat then its da kokes took ya mans cash. She wanna swallow mans seed and have sex with me. He got shot in his (woi woi) Now he can’t breed like he had a vasectomy. (K. Koke – Rapper).
Rap lyrics are about the essence of a struggle, but drill takes things a step further and, unfortunately, runs what could be a well-intentioned poetic craft into something sinister. Ordinarily, the intention behind a rapper’s storytelling of street politics and the detailed accounts of firsthand experiences in their music is to paint vividly clear images of their lives that set them apart from others. This means of expression gives the young person a voice that they may never have otherwise had. They feel listened to and respected after growing up in circumstances where some have concluded that the world in which they live is not a nice place.
Prevention is Key
Gang members have become cleverer, more resourceful and devious and have moved away from targeting youth offenders or those known to the police. Those on the grooming line chain go on the lookout for new potential victims and either find them in parks or outside PRUs. They also specifically target those in the care system – foster care and children’s homes – where many young people already feel abandoned by parents and family. Take, for example, a typical scenario of how a victim and perpetrator might meet in the park or elsewhere. An older teenager who is around seventeen will seek out someone younger, aged around fourteen, and provide them with something they need. They will befriend them, be nice to them, talk to them and give them compliments. They become a shoulder to lean on, and the perpetrator will give them small gifts to make them believe they are friends. The balance of power takes over because of age and hierarchy of vulnerability when the victim is asked to do something like hide a bag in their bedroom (the bag will contain drugs, money, a knife and sometimes even a gun). Over time, pressure will slowly be applied, and stepped up whereby they will be asked to do things, and if they hesitate, they will be threatened or made to feel guilty for not complying.
Other victims who are already caught up in county lines will become embroiled in debt bondage whereby exploiters will provide them with food, drugs and alcohol, clothes, and accommodation, which they think are ‘free’. However, in reality, these are not free, and gang leaders will later hold them accountable for the cost of these items. Also, young people caught up in county lines who are arrested or robbed by rivals are liable to end up paying for the loss of revenue, which can sometimes be thousands of pounds. Therefore, prevention is key before grooming and indoctrination has taken place. The targeting stage needs to be stopped because once young people are groomed, they are lost. This is where time, resources and investment are most needed to break this cycle and prevent young people from being trapped in a situation which is impossible to escape. Ultimately, taking action is too late when they’re dead. It’s also too late when they become hardened by prison, and it’s too late when they get older and have become unemployable and have turned to organised crime.
The Refocus Project in Dartford, Kent, is a registered charity that provides individual specialist de-programming sessions for young people caught up in gang culture. Here are some thoughts from Lennox Rogers (founder) and his team:
There is both a difference and a crossover from carrying a knife and being involved in a gang and county lines. Not everyone who carries a knife will be in a gang, but those in a gang will nearly always carry a knife and other weapons. Those who aren’t gang-affiliated carry a knife because they believe it offers them protection and don’t necessarily set out to stab anyone. Young children, often as young as seven, eight or nine have developed a mindset into believing that others won’t attack them if they are known to be carrying a weapon. Many are fearless and believe that nothing to going to happen to them. Then a petty argument occurs and they take out their weapon. But what they don’t realise is that when someone kills another person, they will not have thought beforehand of the trauma and devastation they cause to the victim’s family or the guilt awaiting them which they will have to live with for the rest of their lives
If you look at the demographics of young gang members in prison – you will see black, white, European, Asian as well as refugees and asylum seekers who have all got caught up in the murky world of gang culture. Breaking free from a gang once someone joins is not easy. When someone tries to break free from a gang, the head gang members will serve heavy beatings and threaten to hurt their families to stop them leaving – so in order for this to be successful, the young person has to have a serious intention of getting out. Once a person decides to make a change and ‘surrender’ then good things start to occur. But this takes strength and determination and often entails changing schools, families relocating, paying off debts or disappearing completely away from the old life to make a new one elsewhere in the country. Even in young children who aren’t fully under the spell of older gang members, the moment they realise that they can’t carry on is the moment change occurs. This can be as simple as better behaviour at home and school, changing their peer group and delving into creative activities including sports.
The situation has got worse in the past five years with poverty and increased living costs prime causes coupled along a growing demand for drugs. Cocaine, heroin and crack are the top three drugs where large sums of money are made. Lines come and go and as soon as the police infiltrate one – another one pops up. Most are invisible and unless you are savvy and recognise signs – you won’t see what is going on around you. Uber and food delivery drivers often get caught up in county lines. There are different kinds of county lines. It can start as easy as a few friends who start selling drugs (known as ‘Home’ made gangs in local towns) but don’t recruit other young people. Then there are the more targeted operations (London and larger UK cities) whereby vulnerable children as young as nine are sought to do their dirty work. These are very organised and sophisticated criminals who run several ‘businesses’ including county lines, money laundering, contract killings, and so-called ‘protection’ for shop owners in disadvantaged areas under the pretence of keeping properties safe.
Girls too get caught up in gang culture and are regulars in trap houses and parties. They are vulnerable and immature and many like the image that comes from associating with ‘bad boys’. However, in gang environments, girls are generally seen as a liability and are used mainly for sex although some of the older girls who drive are sometimes asked to drop off drugs to various locations. Often, an incentive for a gang member to do a good day’s sales is the prospect of getting rewarded afterwards with a girl of their choice from the gang leader who arranges this reward.
Police officers have inherited the problems associated with the poor behaviour and racist attitudes of some of their predecessors. Years ago, there were some good officers who were more interested in helping kids than locking them up but these days there is none of that as a result of less officers, less resources and high sickness levels because of constantly dealing with high levels of violence in the job. The current day police reputation among young people couldn’t get any lower. They are not afraid of the police who they say are a ‘joke’. Gang members know how the police work and know their weaknesses and limitations.
Mental health is a big issue and always has been in gang members. Most young people who join up will be on the autistic spectrum. Many will have ADHD and dyslexia. Several will suffer from depression. The possibility of further issues is almost certain. Many of the young people will take drugs given to them, leading to drug-induced psychosis. Others, because of the experiences they endure, including extreme violence, often end up suffering from PTSD.
We go into schools and target young people before they reach the stage of it ever becoming a problem. For others that we work with, it’s a case of encouraging them to take off the ‘blindfold’ and see the reality of what they are involved in and the likely outcomes. Even if the blindfold only comes off a little, we aim to work with them nevertheless and plant seeds by telling them that the benefits they think they are getting are only temporary. We encourage them to invest their endurance, determination and resilience into more worthwhile, creative, and law-abiding pursuits that will get them the recognition and success they deserve.
There needs to be more investment in Youth Service provisions including opportunities for mentoring and role models for there to be a concerted improvement in the current bleak situation. You need workers on the ground working with young people to know what is going on, what issues and problems are arising so that swift help can be given. Young people need trusted figures around them. They need to know where to go to for help but without having youth services that are properly funded, none of this is not going to happen.
