Young people and knife crime
Yesterday's News of the World included an ICM poll of under 25s about knife crime. Considering that the British Crime Survey doesn't include juvenile crime, and that while actual stabbing will very probably end up as recorded crime figures, people carrying knives, or waving knives about probably won't, it gives an interesting view of exactly how widespread knife crime amongst young people is.
48% of young people thought they themselves were at risk from knife crime, with 36% disagreeing. Only 4% admitted themselves to having carried a knife "for protection". With polls asking young people whether they have done illegal or socially unacceptable things, I often ponder whether any interviewing effect will be a positive or negative factor - will young people be embarrassed to admit to things, or will they boastfully tend to exaggerate such things? In this case the poll was conducted online, so the interviewer effect should not have been a major factor. A bigger stumbling block is that the stereotypical demographic of knife carrying youth - surly, illiterate hoodies hanging around the streets - probably aren't the sort to have found themselves on an online panel recruited through telephone market research.
Asked if they knew other people who had carried or carry a knife, 25% of young people said they did, including 30% of under 20s. That still probably isn't a particularly high number - ICM didn't ask if they knew someone who habitually carried a knife, or if it was someone they knew well. Some of those yes's could be no more than a vague aquaintance taking a knife out once to show off. More meaningful was the 11% of under 25s who said they themselves had been threatened with a knife. 37% said they knew someone who had been threatened or attacked with a knife.
Asked why they thought young people carried knives, 47% said peer pressure, 27% protection and 23% to threaten or rob people with.
There was overwhelming support (93%) for the police being able to stop and search people who they thought were carrying knives. Considering that opposition to more stop and search usually hinges on issues of targetting and racial considerations, support was not significantly lower amongst ethnic minority respondents (91%).
62% said that prison sentences would be the most effective deterrent to knife crime. 75% thought that the present sentencing guidelines for carrying a knife (a maximum sentence of 4 years plus a fine of £5000, but with no automatic prison sentence) were too soft, with 71% supporting a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years. Asked about the idea of a 9pm curfew for under 18s, a majority (53%) were opposed. Perhaps more surprising was the proportion of young people in favour, even amongst under 20s, 35% supported the idea.
