At the age of 15, Elianne Andam was stabbed to death on her way to school in London: another victim of knife violence, a scourge that severely affects young people in the UK.
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A 17-year-old boy has been charged following the girl’s death in the Croydon area of the capital’s south at the end of September and is due to face murder charges in April. Investigators found a knife about a foot long at his home.
Taye Faik, 16, died a few days later in Edmonton, north London. He was the 14th teenager killed in a knife attack in the capital since the start of the year.
Their deaths caused widespread outrage and put pressure on the British government to take swift action against the spread of these blades.
Although the sale of firearms is strictly controlled in the UK, some minors manage to equip themselves with impressive “zombie” knives inspired by horror films and associated with gang culture.
These double-edged weapons with curved blades and neon green handles can be bought for a few dozen pounds on TikTok or Snapchat, allowing you to bypass age restrictions online.
“Social problem”
Between 2012 and 2022, the number of crimes committed by minors with a bladed weapon rose by 19% in England and Wales, compared to 8% for adults in the same decade, according to the Ministry of Justice.
“It’s not just a public policy problem, it’s also a social problem,” said Patrick Green, president of the Ben Kinsella Foundation, after a teenager murdered in London in 2008.
This crime, which is “more present” than in other European countries without the exact causes being known, has its origins, in his opinion, in “social misery, poverty, lack of social mobility and lack of health care and mental health of young people”.
The British capital’s town hall, in the hands of the Labor opposition, is questioning the austerity policies of the Conservative governments in power for 13 years, which they say have helped to “decimate” services for young people, leading to a “decimation ‘ of services for young people has led to the closure of 130 London centers offering sporting and arts activities.
She also highlights that the social environment for young people has deteriorated due to the pandemic and then the inflation-related increase in the cost of living.
“Don’t waste time”
Owning “zombie” knives with threatening messages on the blade has been illegal since 2016, but some manufacturers have managed to get around this ban by simply removing these markings.
So, under pressure to tighten current legislation, the British government pledged at the end of August to ban all knives or machetes longer than 20 centimeters with holes in the blade and sharp points “designed to threaten.” , without having any practical use”.
The Conservatives also want to expand police powers to confiscate and destroy these weapons and increase the maximum penalty for their manufacture, possession and sale, particularly for minors, from six months to two years.
After the deaths of the two teenagers in London, Mayor Sadiq Khan called on the government to “not waste time” and further tighten this project as there were “loopholes that could allow the sale of these weapons” in changing their appearance or size.
Meanwhile, the municipality reminded the city’s 500 secondary schools that they could ask for the placement of a security guard who could reassure students and their parents and obtain a metal detector to detect these weapons.
Labor, currently leading in the polls, recently pledged to allocate £100 million (€115 million) to a program to tackle knife crime and the “crisis” caused by mental health problems among young people if it wins next year’s general election .