50% UK TEENAGERS HAVE WITNESSED OR BEEN VICTIMIZED BY VIOLENCE, STUDY REVEALS

Alfie Lewis (pictured) died after suffering critical injuries in an attack outside St Margaret’s Primary School in Leeds.

Sun 12 October 2023:

A landmark research by government experts into the factors that contribute to knife crime, bullying, and gang rivalry found that half of all teenagers in England and Wales had observed or experienced violence in the previous year, The Guardian reported.

In the UK, the largest-ever poll of youth on the issue revealed “shocking and unacceptable” levels of youth violence, resulting in 358,000 teenagers suffering physical injuries in the previous year.

The scale of the problem was also found to be undermining children’s education, with one in five teenagers admitting they had skipped school during the last 12 months because they felt unsafe, according to the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).

A third of teenagers in families who rely on food banks were found to be victims of violence in the last year.

Levels of violence were most pronounced among vulnerable children, with 37% of teenagers who are supported by a social worker admitting that they had been a victim.

The findings raise serious questions over the government’s approach to tackling youth violence. Critics say it relies too heavily on granting police more powers instead of tackling the root causes.

Jon Yates, executive director of the YEF, said: “The public, including my friends, tend to think this issue affects a very small group of people instead of recognising that actually half of all teenage children are seeing or experiencing violence.

Yet studies show that mentoring programmes can prevent violence by reducing subsequent incidents by 21%. “On a positive note, it does show that we could make a colossal difference if we wanted to,” said Yates.

The latest high-profile murder of a teenager was last Tuesday, when 15-year-old Alfie Lewis was stabbed to death near a school in Leeds.

Witnesses claim the former schoolboy was stabbed in the stomach by a ‘gang’ of at ‘least three youths who then fled the scene’. Another teenage boy has been arrested over the incident.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute to the boy, saying: ‘My heart goes out to the family and friends of the young person who was tragically killed.

‘What I want to say is we’re doing everything we can to clamp down, in particular, on knife crime as it impacts young people.’

From Monday, many police forces will undertake a week of action to tackle knife crime as part of Operation Sceptre, a national initiative which will include educational programmes and knife amnesties – although the YEF’s own studies indicates there is no clear evidence that knife-surrender schemes or knife-awareness initiatives work.

The research also underlined the role of social media in propagating violence, with four in 10 teenagers believing that the technology played a role in encouraging it.

The YEF has received £200m of government funding to prevent serious youth violence and advises the Home Office and senior police officers on what works. The research, to be published on Monday, is based on a detailed survey of 7,500 teenagers and confirms the link between poverty and youth violence.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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