It’s a real shame that the release of the latest figures on knife crime have been dogged by controversy over the way in which they were released rather than the story that they tell. As Alix Mortimer reported on this blog on 13th December the UK Statistics Authority has accused the government of releasing “premature, irregular and selective” figures which appeared to prove that knife crime in the UK was falling.

The National Statistics Code of Practice is there for a reason and of course due processes should be in place to make sure that the figures are not being manipulated for political gain by any political party. Moving on however from Jaqui Smith’s apology, admitting that the government was, “too quick off the mark” in releasing the figures, to simply dismiss the figures as an example of government spin and nothing more completely misses the issue important issue of youth violence and how it can effectively be tackled in the UK.

In the initial briefing’s that the government gave around the disputed statistics, much of the success in reducing knife crime was attributed to police crackdowns as they stepped up their stop and search powers to tackle knife crime. Whether the statistics are valid are not what these comments do reveal is a fundamental short term approach to tackling youth violence and knife crime.

‘Police Crackdowns’ work well in pleasing the media but they can only do so much. As Gordon Brown, to his credit, alluded to when announcing the findings on LBC Radio, there is still, “more to do”. In the long term a difference can only be made if we are able to change to change young people’s attitudes towards knife possession and violence as this is what is going to make the real difference over time.

If attitudes are to change it is far more logical, and effective, to tackle the causes and problems that have led a young person to the position where they feel they need to carry a knife to gain respect. We need to help young people develop a sense of character and responsibility to stop them from picking up the knife in the first place and carrying out youth on youth violence.
Using early intervention processes, Beatbullying’s Gateway programmes are specifically designed and proven to divert the behaviour of young people who are heading towards the tipping point or “Gateway” to criminal and extreme antisocial behaviour. These programmes are aimed at improving young people’s sense of community and their responsibility within it. These schemes harness young people’s shared interests including music, sport and religion to bring young people together in a positive and engaging way.

A good example of this is BBSports. BBSports uses sports as a credibility lever to encourage hard-to-reach or cynical young people to work together to tackle bullying. It gives them experience of working together in teams and helps them gain an enhanced knowledge of how working in teams can develop confidence and self-esteem. We’ve run a pilot with 500 young people from five London boroughs to test the success of utilising sports-based activities to beat bullying. Three quarters of the 500 young people who took part in a pilot of the scheme reporting that the workshops increased their confidence. It’s this confidence that will help them turn their backs on the pressure to pick up a knife or enrol in gang culture.

It’s vital that the Government continues to support behaviour modification strategies, conflict resolution, anger management and impulse control particularly in the hardest hit areas. This is best achieved by partnering with third sector organisations like ourselves with an emphasis on peer-led practice and interventions which can stem the tide of a youth culture which is bound up with fear and violence.

The need for this work is clear but the response from the Government so far has just been a two-year pilot scheme which will only reach a very limited number of young people leaving many more without the vital help that they need. What’s important to remember is that behind the political points scoring and alleged spin of figures like those released last week there are real people’s lives at stake and it’s vital that we do everything we can to make those lives better.

Emma-Jane Cross is the Chief Executive of BeatBullying, the UK’s leading anti-bullying charity.