Tackling knife crime in young people

The Statistics

There have been an alarming number of statistics that have come out recently regarding knife crime. The 2024 UK Peace Index found that reported knife crime rates in England and Wales are now over a fifth higher than they were a decade ago. [1] And while all crime in up acrosss the UK and the rate varies in different years – In the year to March 2023, there were more than 50,000 offences recorded in England and Wales involving a knife or other sharp instrument, 4.7% higher than the previous year but 7% down on the 2019-20 statistic. [2] It’s not hard to see that more could be done to help tackle knife crime within communities, especially for the likes of young people who are more likely to get involved in a gangs and violence from a young age.

What the government are doing?

Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has said one of his main focuses for the UK while being in office is to tackle knife crime, his social media saying that it is a national crisis! The PM has started to layout plans for the ‘Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime’ organisation bringing help from Idris Elba along with police, officials and educators. One of the first steps that the PM has successful achieved in office was to ban the online sale of Zombie knives. Starmer had this to say about tackling knife crime: “We will take this moment to come together as a country – politicians, families of victims, young people themselves, community leaders and tech companies – to half knife crime and take back our streets.” Elba also commented with: “We need to tackle the root causes of knife crime, not just the symptoms. The coalition is a positive step toward rehabilitating our communities from the inside out.”[3]

How Solomon Theatre Company can help

As a ‘Theatre In Education’ company, helping to bring awareness to issues within our society, we are thrilled the government is actually putting effort and engagement behind tackling knife crime especially in young people. We hope to help and aid in the mission of the PM by tackling knife crime through education and prevention, that’s why we have our very own knife crime show and workshop which we tour to school across the UK. We believe that tackling the issue through engaging drama and also interactive workshops opens up the communication for students to understand the issue and seek help if they need to. Our knife crime show, Skin Deep, focuses on the dangers of carrying a knife (even for protection), gang life and violence, grooming, exploitation and county lines. Based on true events, this hard-hitting show immediately connects with students through compelling dialogue and rap music.

We have worked with councils and police departments to bring this touring show and workshops to life. If you require us to come in to visit your community or school, get in touch, We will be happy to work with you, collaborating to tackle knife crime within our communities.

Feedback from our previous tours of Skin Deep

References:

[1] https://www.visionofhumanity.org/knife-crime-in-england-and-wales-a-growing-concern/#:~:text=With%20nearly%20half%20of%20young,they%20were%20a%20decade%20ago.

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/sep/08/keir-starmer-and-idris-elba-launch-project-to-tackle-knife-national-crisis

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/25/keir-starmer-vows-make-tackling-knife-crime-moral-mission