– Every week in 2007, a teenager was murdered on Britain’s streets
– 27 out of the 52 teenagers who died last year were murdered in London
– In a Channel 4 Dispatches survey of 100 male youths aged between 11 and 18 in two South London boroughs in January 2008:
- 33 claimed to be current or former gang members and/or had committed serious violence against other youths
- 48 claimed to have suffered serious violence (only 9 reported this to the police)
- 25 had been threatened with a knife
- 7 had been threatened with a gun
- 18 had been hit with a hard or a blunt object
- 14 had been cut or stabbed with a sharp object
- 6 had been shot at
– In a similar survey of 100 male youths in parts of Glasgow:
- 51 admitted to a violent lifestyle
- 64 had suffered serious violence at the hands of another youth (only 10 reported this to the police)
- 27 had been threatened with a knife
- 2 had been threatened with a gun
- 43 had been hit with a hard or a blunt object
- 4 had been cut or stabbed with a sharp object
- 3 had been shot at
Download the full survey here (PDF)
– Crimestoppers says
- 69 teenagers are victims of knife crime every week in London and nearly half of all murders are carried out with a knife.
Leave a Reply