Knife Crime

Knife crime is a major issue facing the world and especially the United Kingdom. It claims thousands of lives of innocent people, mercilessly slaughtered on the urban streets in the name of gang violence and turf wars. It is a large contributing factor to the social and moral decline of our world. And what is most shocking and eliminates and lashes at the sense of security embodied into everyone’s heart is that the majority of the killers are not men who have done hard time behind bars and have an endless rap sheet, with their face a normal addition to the most wanted list, but young, immature and insecure teenagers. The average age of the blade-wielding killer is getting lower and lower. In fact, knife crime is getting so bad that the police now keep seperate records for knife crime-related offences. These people will grow up to become what we are, from the lawyers to the social workers, from the Prime Ministers to the cleaners, these people will make varied yet essential footholds for our nation to progress. These people will grow up to run our country. As the great Muslim scholar Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad said ‘A nation cannot be reformed without first reforming its youth.’

Shocking Facts

There are many devastating facts being released by the Government and various police forces under the ‘Freedom of Information’ act across the vast extent of the nation. These include:

· A knife-related offence is committed every 24 minutes

· In the past three months there have been over 2,000 stabbings, including 55 murders

· Shockingly, 62% of U.K. school pupils admit that they have previously carried a knife.

· 20% of 16-year-olds have admitted to pulling a knife out on someone and intending to seriously injure them.

What is being done about it?

A wide variety of things are being done to try and neutralise knife crime and eliminate its fatal influences in the British streets. Football star Rio Ferdinand has launched a campaign called ‘respect your life- not a knife’ and has set up a ‘live the dream’ foundation. It will break the links between ‘crime, drug use, knives and gang violence’. He also produced a film about a ‘cold-blooded loan shark’, starring American superstar rapper 50 Cent. He hopes that young people will leave their habits and actions and have someone to look up to, someone to look to for guidance, a role-model.