We know how to stop knife crime, so why don’t we do it?

Analysis

BBC

Government, Politics, News

4.6 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the last five years in the UK, more than 100 children have died from knife wounds. But violence isn't inevitable and evidence shows that we need more mentoring, therapy, family support and police in the areas where violence is high. So why don't we do what works? Jon Yates from the Youth Endowment Fund looks at the schemes that have successfully reduced knife crime. He investigates why the lessons they've taught us haven’t been scaled up. And why we’re spending money on other things like knife awareness campaigns without any evidence they work. Presenter: Jon Yates Producer: Rob Walker Editor: Clare Fordham Sound Engineer: Richard Hannaford Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Contributors: Karyn McCluskey, Chief Executive, Community Justice Scotland Karen Timoney, Director, KDT Wellness Graeme Armstrong, author of The Young Team Laura Knight, Toolkit and Evidence Engagement Lead, Youth Endowment Fund Gavin Stephens, Chair, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lawrence Sherman, Chief Scientific Officer, Metropolitan Police Jhemar Jonas, youth worker and musician Ciaran Thapar, youth worker and author of Cut Short Thomas Abt, Founding Director, Center for the Study and Practise of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland; author of Bleeding Out Sajid Javid, Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, former Home Secretary Luke Billingham, youth worker and researcher Jahnine Davis, Director, Listen Up

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
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0:36.0	BBC Sounds.
0:38.0	BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:41.0	Thanks for listening to this edition of Analysis, the podcast that looks at the ideas behind the news.
0:45.7	Hello, I'm John Yates, and in 2019, the government gave me 200 million pounds of your money. They wanted to do
0:54.8	something about knife crime. They were right to be worried about it that year
1:00.1	ten teenagers lost their lives in the first three months of the year.
1:05.0	And so, with 200 million pounds in the bank account and two decades of working with young people,
1:11.0	I started moving. I set up a charity called the Youth Endowment Fund to try and work out
1:16.1	what really works to reduce knife crime. The good news is this, that four years later we actually know a lot about what works and what doesn't.
1:26.0	The bad news, people are still dying on our streets.
1:30.0	So here's what I really want to know.
1:33.0	When it comes to knife crime, why don't we get on and do what works?
1:40.0	First though, let's look at somewhere where knife crime has fallen dramatically.
1:45.0	It's a bright chilly early morning in Glasgow.
1:52.0	Looking around it's hard to believe that 15 years ago this place
	...

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