Sadiq Khan: knife crime didn’t start when I was elected in May 2016
Eight boroughs were today named as the worst for violent youth crime as Sadiq Khan warned that violence had “become normalised” for some young Londoners.
City Hall published a detailed analysis, using police and NHS data since 2012, of the causes and extent of knife and gun crime and its links to poverty.
There were 52 murders of people under 25 in 2018, according to the Met police. The number of victims of serious youth violence rose by 71 per cent between 2012/13 and 2017/18, but fell four per cent in the most recent financial year, the research said.
The Mayor today called for “honesty” about the scale of the problem and the level of commitment needed to bring an end to the “bloodshed” by using a public health approach.
Mr Khan, asked whether it would take a decade or more to achieve change, which is how long it has taken in Glasgow, said the Met’s violence reduction task force had carried out more than 5,000 arrests and taken more than 2,000 knives off the street.
But he added: “We are making progress but to make transformative change will take some time.
“Londoners can’t afford to wait 10 years for our city to be as safe as it can be.”
The Mayor, who often meets grieving families, spoke of the personal impact of the scale of the crime epidemic.
He said: “I often lie awake at night with an overwhelming sense of apprehension. How many Londoners will be the victims of violence over the coming days? How many women will have to suffer sexual assault or domestic violence? How many families will be left grieving due to bloodshed on our streets?”
Westminster, Haringey, Southwark, Lambeth, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Camden and Hackney had the highest victim rates, based on the number of attacks per 1,000 residents under 25.
Enfield, Croydon and Brent joined the list – replacing Islington, Camden and Hackney – when only the total number of offences was considered.
Many of the boroughs are among the top 10 most deprived in the capital.
Today’s research said incidents involving school children were most likely to occur soon after the end of the school day. Those involving young adults were most common after 10pm and at weekends.
A total of 39 per cent of victims were white, 26 per cent black and 16 per cent Asian.
White people accounted for 41 per cent of attackers, while 35 per cent were black.
A total of 62 per cent of attackers are known to police on at least one previous occasion.
The report, quoting Met data, shows the number of youth victims of serious violence – those under 19 – fell to a low of 4,836 in 2012/13. Since then it has risen 71 per cent to 8,256 in 2017/18, before falling to 7,913 in 2018/19.
London Ambulance statistics show the number of knife/gunshot/penetrating trauma incidents attended by crews for people aged 10-24 peaked in 2011/12 at 1,083. It fell then rose to 969 in 2017/18 and fell again last year to 832.
The report said that 10 per cent of ambulance call-outs to youth assaults involve the use of knives or guns. Many victims “self-present” to hospitals rather than calling 999. Some even attempt to stitch their own wounds to avoid police attention, the Mayor revealed last month.
Mr Khan, addressing youth and community leaders and bereaved families in a youth club in Bermondsey, said: “There’s never any excuse for criminality. Those who commit crimes must pay for their actions.
“But we have to face the reality that for some young people growing up today, violence has become normalised.”
The Mayor’s violence reduction unit today announced it would expand after-school clubs in high-crime areas. Measures to stop reoffending will also be expanded in prisons and young offender institutions.
Mr Khan said: “The stark new analysis from City Hall truly lays bare the full extent of the relationship between serious youth violence and a whole range of socio-economic factors.
“There are still some who say that to acknowledge this link between poverty, deprivation and crime is somehow to excuse criminality and to let the criminals off the hook. I say this is dangerous rubbish.
“The truth is if we allow children to be brought up in deprived conditions as a country, if we accept high rates of school exclusions, if we fail to tackle domestic and sexual violence, if we leave people in bad housing with a lack of employment and training opportunities… then crime is quite simply much more likely to flourish.”
Pastor Lorraine Jones, whose son Dwayne Simpson was stabbed to death aged 20 in 2014,, said the research showed that young people living in deprived areas were victims of violence and abuse from a young age.
She said: “The problem we have with the large numbers of exclusions from schools is frightening and I’m pleased that Sadiq is addressing the root causes of this to prevent this from happening and giving the schools the extra support they need.”
Patrick Green, chief executive of the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: “These initiatives announced by the Mayor today, and the work of London Violence Reduction Unit will go a long way toward addressing the surge of knife crime that has taken the lives of so many talented young people.”