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Good morning.

Knife crime is a problem that just won’t go away and fifteen year old Harvey Willgoose is the latest tragic victim of it. This weekend, large crowds gathered for Mass and then marched through Sheffield city centre to remember Harvey and offer support to a family who must be going through unbearable grief. Many held signs with the stark but simple message, ‘Drop the Knife.’

Clear messaging and effective prevention are critical in addressing the problem. But many are saying that we need to dig much deeper and ask why so many teenagers, and especially teenage boys, feel the need to carry a knife in the first place. I asked a group of our urban church leaders that question and one in Preston told me, ‘It’s about security and status, stemming from an upbringing characterised by insecurity and lack of status.’

For me, this is illustrated by Jayden who featured in a recent ´óÏó´«Ã½ documentary by Idris Elba. He said, ‘When I had a knife, I felt like I was a God. No one could touch me.’ Carrying a knife is about a yearning for a life in which a young person has power and purpose. And I don’t think we will be able to address knife crime without also offering a better answer to that deeper question of purpose.

One of the groups who seek to do just that is the Manchester based ‘Message Trust’ who use compelling speakers and live music to hammer home the dangers of carrying a knife. But as a Christian organisation they go further. For the Christian, the purpose of our lives is found in relationship with Jesus Christ. Security is found in the certainty of his love. Status is discovered in being chosen as his child. So the Message Trust encourage those young people who are interested to explore these deeper questions about the foundation stones of their lives.

There are secular projects that also seek to dig deeper, for example Idris Elba highlighted the work of the Serve initiative in Coventry which is where he met Jayden. Before they have committed a crime, young people at risk are given a mentor who provides a stable relationship and then finds them opportunities to pursue their interests, develop their gifts and find a richer purpose.

Of course there must be prevention, robust laws and strong sentences to prevent knife crime. But that’s not enough. The knife needs to be made redundant by offering young people a more compelling and enriching narrative for their lives. Maybe then fewer families will have to live with desolate grief. And more potential perpetrators will be able to say, in Jayden’s words, ‘There’s some beauty in the world that wasn’t there before.’

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