Prof on UK Stabbings: Unless Gov't Begins to Invest, Nothing Going to Change

The fatal stabbing of an 18-year-old man in Eltham on Tuesday night has meant there have been 130 homicides in the capital since 1 January. Sputnik spoke about it to Dr Simon Harding Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of West London.

Sputnik: What approach should authorities in the city and moreover authorities across the country be taking to prevent these numbers?

Dr Simon Harding: The rising number of stabbings in London is I think a great distress for local communities and it's of great concern to the mayor and the government, and I do think more can be done. What really underlies this is a series of causes and causal factors which remain quite simply unaddressed. Until these issues are addressed, we are not going to see any significant change in the fact that this type of violent is occurring. My guess on this is that unless the government begins to invest in these areas, we're probably not going to see much change.

Sputnik: Could authorities be doing more to crack down on gang culture which is in part driving this trend?

Dr Simon Harding: Yes I think absolutely they can. People tend to forget that when Tony Blair and his administration took office in 1998 their mantra was ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' and one of their key policy developments was the ‘Crime and Disorder Act'. Within that act there were provisions with the local authorities to work in partnership with the police, probation, the fire service and health to jointly tackle the causes of crime and disorder — there is a statutory duty there which still stands to this day. What's happened since then is with the change of government now to the conservative government and austerity there has been a shrinkage of that side of policy as well.

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Sputnik: If we look at Scotland compared to other nations in Britain, we see that these types of violent crimes like stabbings and shootings have decreased massively in size over the past 10 years. Could we see London's Met Police following Scotland's approach in reducing these record numbers?

Dr Simon Harding: The public health model essentially creates a different banner around which these partners can work together; however, I think that is how far this opportunity can extend itself because it is simply not going to work if the authorities in London, including the Mayor's, office think they can take this model off the self in Glasgow and simply introduce it in London and get it to work here.

Glasgow is a much smaller place than London; it is a single unitary authority whereas London has 32 separate boroughs with different political colouring. The nature of gang violence in Glasgow is very different to the nature of gang violence here in London. I think it will make it very challenging, if not impossible, for the London authorities to fully adopt the same model that worked so effectively in Glasgow.

The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.