On Sunday, Coffee House ran an article by Koos Couvee, a former Enfield Advertiser journalist and contemporary of mine. It argued that knife crime will only be reduced if we legalise drugs. Young people are killing each other in turf wars over the supply of drugs with an array of horrific knives and even machetes. Couvee suggests that the violence would be reduced if drugs were legalised.
His argument is an economic one: joining a gang and dealing drugs is more lucrative than getting a job. So if you legalise drugs, the problem goes away. But if drugs are legalised, other equally nasty sources of revenue will kick in. What is not being asked and answered is why young people are carrying knives from such a young age and why they are perfectly happy to stab and kill.
When I introduced into law mandatory custodial sentences for those over 16 convicted of carrying a knife twice, it was aimed at ensuring persistent offenders understood the consequences. For far too long the courts were not jailing repeat offenders, even those who had been convicted over ten times for possession. Regrettably the courts still have not learnt to apply the new law. Only 60 percent of those bought before them for possession of a knife for a second offence are being incarcerated.
However, I have never argued that tough sentencing will solve the problem of persistent knife crime and killings. That children as young as ten are carrying knives is a problem that requires urgent intervention. There is no need to get side-tracked with arguments over drug legalisation. Instead, we need to focus on diverting young people away from the idea that it is acceptable to carry knives.
What weakens the effect of early intervention is the lack of support at local and national level for community-based education and intervention work. Despite the herculean efforts of third-sector community groups – many of whom are often founded from personal tragedy and experience – they struggle to find resources.
The complex process for bidding for state funding means that progress is prohibitively slow.
At a local level, these groups are highly successful at reducing knife crime among young children. Charities such as Kids Count are at the frontline of this culture of knife crime. Yet they have struggled to widen the scope of their work because of funding problems. So instead of politicians delivering set pieces about the subject, money needs to be given to the local front line organisations who can really bring about change through innovative intervention. To do this, the government must ruthlessly simplify the complex bidding process for access to these funds, so that bigger organisations are not the only ones who benefit.
It has become too easy to own a knife in the UK. When the new Met Commissioner is appointed, they should reassess how the Met Police conduct stop and search. Until then, more steps must be taken to limit young people’s access to knives. It is a disgrace for the merchants involved and they should be subject to criminal prosecution. But what won’t solve the problem is the legalisation of drugs. The violence will continue so long as young people continue to think it is acceptable to buy – and use – knives.
Nick de Bois was the Conservative MP for Enfield North from 2010 to 2015.
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