When I leave university in 2011, hopefully with my joint honours degree, I want to go into a career of sorts in the field of youth crime.
People ask me all the time why I would chose a career like that, one that will be difficult, frustrating, challenging and maybe occasionally a little dangerous.

This week another teenager, just 16 years old, was stabbed in the neck and killed, over a silly disagreement. He died because he refused to fight. He bled to death in his brothers arms.

This has become a very serious issue in this country, and other countries too. Last year the governments response was to lower the age at which someone can be prosecuted for carrying a gun/knife and raise the sentence for younger people. This is not a solution, it will just in turn push the age of youths carrying guns and knives down too. Older drug dealers use young people to deal their crap, in schools and such...if they lower the age a youth can be prosecuted and raise the jail term to ten years or whatever...these people will get younger children to do their dirty work.

All of these measures constantly being put in place do nothing to sort the problem. Longer, harsher jail terms do nothing to solve the problem. I constantly hear, every time a young person is killed, that their killer should be locked up for life, the key thrown away. What good is that, when there are a million other kids all prepared to do the same, all in the same situation. I honestly feel that until we find out WHY these things keep happening, we will be unable to prevent it happening again.

I really want to be one of those few people who speak to young people, deal directly with them to find out why these things keep happening and work with them, not just sit passing judgement on them. If our youth has gone to pot, if they are a bunch of louts and murderers and druggies its because the generation before them has let them down, failed them. What could be so bad, as to lead a child (cause thats what they are) to go and kill someone? It isnt normal behaviour and whilst we sit in judgement we are letting them down. Todays generation are smart, very smart and we dont give them enough credit. They hold all the answers, the trouble is, no one hears them.

I dont have any answers, and I dont expect it to be an easy career path, but I want to try, to just be one of those rare people who listen without making assumptions.

I personally strongly believe that the root cause of this crisis is poverty. We think of poverty as an overseas problem, we think of African villages and such...but it exists here too. Poverty is relative to the area in which it exists. Poverty here is defined as a state where someone lives without the basic means of survival - without a secure roof over their heads, in substandard accommodation, without means of self preservation (no available jobs) without the means to feed oneself with proper food (have you ever lived on benefits? It is impossible to survive and eat decent food, when you are feeding several people on £45 a week). There are millions of people living like this in the UK and that is going to have consequences.

Some people say shame on the youth of today, I say shame on us, for allowing it to get this far, for not asking WHY.

What do you guys think?


p.s. I want to dedicate this post to young people who have lost their lives to violence and crime, or who have been victims of so-called youth crime. I'm afraid there are so many I cant remember them all, so if want to add any, please do.

Rhys Jones (12 yrs old) shot dead playing on his bike
Damilola Taylor (10 yrs old) stabbed in the leg, bled to death in a stairwell, just moths after coming to Britain for a 'better life'
Jimmy Mizen (16 yrs old) - stabbed in a bakery, for refusing to fight
Billy Cox (15 yrs old) murdered because he was 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'
Danielle Beccan (14 yrs old) shot 'acidentally' in a drive by coming home from the Goose fair in Nottingham 
Marian Bates (42 yrs old) - shot dead in her jewellers in Nottingham, in a botched robbery
Gary Newlove (44 yrs old) kicked to death infront of his wife and young children for confronting some youths who kicked a football at his car
Javarie Crighton (21 yrs old) - found stabbed to death in his bedroom - police still dont know why he was targeted
Michael Dosunmu (15 yrs old) - a case of mistaken identity - murdered in his bed
Jason Gale-Bent (17 yrs old) - minding his own business on a park bench, stabbed to death
Jessie James (15 yrs old) - killed in a fight that got out of hand

like I say...too many more to remember their names, but they shouldnt die in vain. This cant be right! xx