Youths and Knive Crime in Britain

The government votes in a budget for the welfare of unemployed youths but even at that many of them don’t see any dignity in labour, they prefer to collect the benefit and waste away their lives rather than work to earn a good living. It is gladdening to note that a review of the welfare benefit system is now underway and we hope the lapses will be corrected.

Moreover, the youths here though have lot of recreational facilities to help them develop physically and otherwise but they lack quality programmes that will keep them engaged and diverted from crime such as out of school programmes, summer holiday programmes and voluntary organisations are either too few or lack the financial capacity to attract these youths to their fold.

Again, most of the efforts put in by the government have remained curative instead of preventive since prevention have been proved to be better than cure. It follows that we must go an extra mile to curb this menace ravaging like fire before it snowball into a culture among the youths.

The family system was meant to be the first socialisation agent and to serve as a springboard for` the mental, social and physical well being of the child. It is suppose to act as checkmate where necessary so the child doesn’t become a social burden to the family or society at large. Some psychologist has posited that children brought up in a family setting are more likely to develop well mentally, physically and morally. This is because it’s most certain parents will always find time to look into what their children are doing, the kind of company they keep, what they do outside their home, in school and all that.

In the past you will even see grandparents being involved in the upbringing of their own grand children but this culture is fast disappearing since children sometimes tend to have more attachment and respect for those grandparents who are involved with them when they are transiting from their different phases of life. While those that are religious among them are quick to introduce their grandchildren early enough to religious beliefs that the child can follow. And when the child misbehaves there are always ways to correct the child without having to spare the rod to spoil the child.

However, what baffles me now is how quick the family system has broken down. In these days little attachment is given to family ties and family engagement as it was in the Victorian times. Therefore, parents must brace up to the fact that there is a time bomb on their hand and the earlier they put it off the better for them and the society because no one can tell whose child will be next hit or join the league of attacked victims.

Besides, we cannot have a sane society where even the family that is supposed to be the bedrock of the society is seriously found wanting and in crisis.

And the government must increase their level of support for the family system by creating policies that will encourage family cohesiveness and reduce the divorce rate by creating multi door channels for reconciliation for families undergoing marital challenges

Consequently, the government of the day need to do more in order to curb the menace of youth crime by getting youths more involved in community service, inculcating it in their academic curricular from the start, getting these youths into organised youth clubs, increasing the censoring of the media content for children on Television and putting those convicted of youth crime to more community service.

In addition, stakeholders in the social sector should be consulted regularly on issues that borders on youth crime because their views help to shape the direction of policies.

Also the government need to increase funding to the youth sector and enhance the monitoring of policy initiatives closely in the sector. And such policies should reflect current trend in meeting the needs and aspirations of the most vulnerable sector of the society “youths” such that efforts should be concentrated more on the preventive technique than curative techniques.

The youths too should be given a voice in matters that concerns them before any law is enacted through their organised representatives or any other forum where youths can be reached for their inputs because when they are involved, the law becomes a part of them rather them being alienated by the law.

And not until the government realises how disconnected they are from the youths of today, the war against knife crime would have been lost already.