Forum Topic

The Rising Tide of Death on Our Streets

If you talk to anyone with day to day experience of dealing with young people in London today they will all tell you the same thing. The chances of a youth becoming involved in violent crime rises massively if there is no father figure in the household. No matter how loving and supportive a single mother is, she often can't impose the critical red lines on behaviour that enable boys to develop self-control. I'm not speaking with reference to the events last night in Ealing because we don't know any details. Also there are no studies to confirm what the professionals say because these days academic institutions shy away from research which is likely to generate controversy. However, we do know that there is a significant rise in fatherless boys occurring at the moment and this is coinciding with a sharp rise in knife crime. Unfortunately this is just the start of the rise and the problem is set to get worse if unchecked. The other issue is that the internet now allows rival gangs to communicate with each other and arrange confrontations — technology has made gang warfare more efficient. You can't put this genie back in the bottle. It also means that more police won't necessarily solve the problem. If fights can be arranged on encyrpted software even the best resourced force can't do anything about it. Tougher sentences are also demonstrably not going to work. We already lock up more people than any other country in western Europe and custodial sentences for minor offences just turns petty criminals into hardened ones. Higher tariffs for carrying knives has just resulted in gangs getting minors to bring knives to fights. The answer we may now have to look at is the fostering and adoption system. At the moment the presumption is in favour of the natural mother but huge resources will be ploughed into supporting her even though the outcome for the child is likely to be bad. If the bar was raised for when a mother would receive this support and more children were put up for adoption at an early stage we would see a reduction in crime in 15 years time.

Gordon Southwell ● 2272d12 Comments

The 60% you are referring to relates to a limited number of people earning between 100 and 125 k pa above that the marginal rate for the very rich is 40% which is not very onerous.  The point is that taxation applied progressively and fairly can pay for the services that we all need.  Rationally we should decide on necessary provision of service and arrange taxation accordingly and not the other way round.

Philippa Bond ● 2266d

What do you mean by a fairer graduated tax system, Philippa? It's already graduated, with higher earners paying marginal rates of income tax of over 60% and almost half the population paying none at all.

Susan Kelly ● 2267d

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/knife-crime-uk-stabbings-youth-service-cuts-government-austerity-a8901856.htmland this more recent one - read it first because of the paywall:https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/knife-crime-youth-services-cuts-councils-austerity-ymca-a9118671.htmlI don't think that making people homeless by increasing the stresses on them is a way of solving the problem.https://www.jrf.org.uk/people/child-povertyhttps://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/news-and-blogs/policy-updates/2016/july/child-poverty-numbers-on-the-rise/https://www.pledge.org.uk/blog/2-9-million-children-in-poverty-latest-figures-show/We need a fairer graduated tax system.

Philippa Bond ● 2267d

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43506784You also need to look at the extra stresses on families including the uptake in the use of food banks, the failure of all governments to sort out elderly care, the number of the working poor - working but not earning enough to live and so also eligible for benefits, and the lack of affordable housing.

Philippa Bond ● 2268d

Every child, thanks to this government, gets up to 30 hours per week of free nursery care, but again, parental involvement in sharing those early developmental years is vital.As to both parents working, the 'housewife' has been a rarity since the 1960's. Both of my parents worked full-time but ensured that they spent whatever little leisure time they had taking me to museums, libraries or anywhere that was enriching (but necessarily given their finances free).As to working hours yes we work longer, but it is a matter of under twenty-five minutes a day more than the EU average which is dreadfully skewed by Denmark with an average 37.5 hour week,

N V Brooks ● 2268d

It isn't just parents though - it is grandparents and the wider family.  Grandparents often live miles away and/or may still be working and so unable to support and share care when it is so important that children have a vocabulary with which they can express themselves rather than simply lashing out in frustration.  They need lots of TIME being spoken to and interacting with people rather than lots of material stuff.We are pushing both parents into work when their children are very small and so they are often not able to spend enough quality time with them.  Look at how few men take up their parental leave.  Don't we still have the longest working hours in Europe?  Nurseries are expensive but even so the (English) role models there often do not speak English as well as they ought to.  Children are reaching school age and starting school without being able to understand and follow the teacher's instructions.  This makes teaching a class very difficult.  Without achieving good language skills in their early years these children will never catch up.There are also a growing number not only unable to use a knife and fork but also still in nappies when they start school.  I suspect disposable nappies have also become a lot more comfortable as well as handy in these time-starved times.  The Surestart programme so important for the early years was cancelled as part of the cuts no-one wants to admit have happened..Teenage pregnancies which for so many years were considered to be the cause of enormous continuing social problems are no longer the big problem they were.

Philippa Bond ● 2268d

"How did they manage to get through school without this most basic achievement?  Why isn't everybody being taught?"A VERY complex issue to be honest but much of which stems from parental abrogation of all responsibility for their child's education to schools.Child education is a shared role and if parents don't read to their kids or teach them basic skills (a report only last week on the sheer number of five-year-olds unable to use a knife and fork) then the schools face an uphill battle.Sadly, in years as a school governor I saw it time and time again (but nowhere near as much as the poor ruddy teachers). Parents who can't/won't go to consultation /progress meetings (you can't force them) but who are the first in line to complain when their 'little angel' doesn't get a good clutch of exam results.No amount of government cash can force people to be better parents and my admiration for any youngster wanting to enter teaching as a profession is almost boundless.

N V Brooks ● 2268d

The whole father figure thing is it ,in a nutshell.Anyone noticed how many young footballers are now growing up with double-barrelled names? They are of a certain ilk. Google them.

Simon Wycombe ● 2268d

So much of the 'stuff' (and I don't mean drugs) that we buy is unnecessary and excessive.  The Priory now deals with internet shopping addiction as well as drug and alcohol addiction.People will buy longer lasting goods so long as they can be assured that they will really last longer.  It is interesting to learn how many prison inmates either can't read or struggle with reading.  How did they manage to get through school without this most basic achievement?  Why isn't everybody being taught?

Philippa Bond ● 2268d

I'm old enough the remember apprenticeships. They were difficult to get on and you generally did need some exam passes.Buying cheaper goods from overseas i.e. globalisation has overall raised living standards but it has made life tougher for non-skilled workers in high income countries. Not sure there is an easy solution but forcing people to buy more expensive domestically made goods is definitely not one of them.Jobs are available to young people and even people without qualifications can earn something although they are likely to be poorly paid. The problem is that criminal activities can provide a higher income. Gang activity is usually related to drug trade turf wars. Although it things seem to have got worse here recently this is a global phenomenon that most urban centres in the world have to deal with. Nobody really seems to have come up with a solution.

Andy Jones ● 2269d

Why are so many of the young feeling so disenfranchised?  Some years ago it was easy to find a job when you left school or university.  It is not as easy now.  And please don't quote any statistics together with the phrase 'more than ever before'.  Where are all those manufacturing jobs?  All those engineering companies?  Who is it who'll buy anything so long as it is cheap/the cheapest.  Never mind that it puts local workers in the UK out of jobs or that the reason it is cheap Is because of unsafe and/or poor working conditions anywhere else.  What did happen to all the apprenticeships?  I've heard they're now back and that they can give young people a much better feeling of achievement and satiafaction.

Philippa Bond ● 2269d

A 15 year wait for improvement is too long although I do agree that family structure is a critical determinant of the likelihood of a boy becoming a violent criminal. The question is really what can be done short term. More resources for the police has to be part of the answer. The death and seriously injured toll has risen to the extent that we might have to consider youth knife crime on a par with terrorism. The money is there, it is just a question of priorities. 

Dennis O'Shea ● 2271d