These 60 deprived children from Croydon could tell us exactly why we're facing a knife crime epidemic

Last year, 135 people were killed in the capital. We can't pretend we didn't see this coming

Violence in London is an epidemic. Last year, 135 people were killed in the capital, 79 as a result of stabbings. This is the highest number in more than a decade – and the rate shows little sign of slowing this year. Not even six months into 2019, 56 Londoners had been murdered.

We know those involved in serious violence are getting younger and younger. Police statistics show that children now account for half of all knife crime in London. And the tragic result: nine teenagers stabbed to death on our capital’s streets already this year.

And today we learned that knife possession offences involving women in England have increased rapidly since 2014 - by roughly 10 per cent every year, according to new police figures released to the BBC. In 2018, there were more than 1,500 recorded incidents of female knife possession, an increase of 73 per cent in just five years.

We can’t pretend we didn’t see this coming. We know about the root causes of violence, and we know about government policy since 2010. Violence has always existed, but it is not inevitable. It is a product of numerous, complex social factors, many of which have been exacerbated by austerity.

There is a growing recognition that to tackle this epidemic we must treat knife crime in the same way we would a contagious disease – a "public health approach". That would mean recognising that violence breeds violence, so to tackle it we need attack the problem at its source. We must acknowledge that certain people are at greater risk of being involved in knife crime because of their environments and find ways to prevent this, through education and support through childhood. This must be a priority both for local communities and at the centre of government. Crucially, the voices of young people should heard.

In my borough, Croydon, our local safeguarding board recently investigated 60 cases involving vulnerable adolescents. These children had been subject to serious violence or exploitation. More than half the girls investigated had also been victims of child sexual exploitation.

Three-quarters of these 60 Croydon children had also experienced the absence of a father and a quarter had an absence of a mother. Funding for support services that would help identify and protect children living in these difficult situations continues to fall. The closure of Sure Start centres is a stark demonstration of this.

The Croydon children demonstrate how important a role schools have in identifying and supporting young people at risk of falling into knife crime. A third of the children had already been excluded from a school by the time they left primary education, and every single child who was later convicted of a crime had been excluded at some stage of their school career. But with school funding cuts resulting in almost half of London schools increasing their class sizes, and reducing their curriculums, and 42 per cent of schools in London cutting teaching staff, the pressure on schools to deliver even basic provision has never been greater.

As I argue in a new report examining challenges facing London in the 2020s, entitled ‘Capital Gains’ and to be published by the Fabian Society on Monday, our schools have to be supported to provide education on healthy relationships, identity, life skills and social development – and that includes the risks associated with carrying knives and getting involved with crime, however petty.

Good performance at school is obviously critical to giving London's young people aspiration and opportunity. In our capital, this is particularly important for young black, Asian and other ethnic minority young people, whose unemployment rate is still disproportionately high.

Youth services and youth work are other vital pieces of the puzzle – but 81 London youth clubs and council youth projects have closed since 2011, with £39m cut from council youth service budgets across London.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel; there are plenty of ideas and projects that show real promise in preventing young people becoming involved in crime.

Violence reduction plans in Scotland and worldwide recognise the limits of policing alone to solve the problem. Nevertheless, rampant cuts to policing have had an impact on crime levels: by 2021, the Metropolitan Police will have had to make £1bn of savings, estimated to reduce the number of police officers from 31,000 to 28,215 – a 15-year low. The £100m in extra police funding pledged by Philip Hammond, the former chancellor, to tackle knife crime came only after massive effort from MPs and police officers forced the government to recognise that cuts have contributed a rise in violent crime. But it will need to be shared out nationally – and it is still accounts for only a tenth of what has already been cut from police in London alone.

Increased understanding of child and adolescent development, and the causes of offending behaviour, have contributed to the development of trauma better services for children and adolescents and more appropriate responses to youth offending. As a result, we have seen a big reduction in the criminalisation of children in recent years.

This progress is now being undermined by a government policy that has gutted funding for children’s services, schools, youth services, mental health services and adult social care.

To see an end to knife violence in London need to think big. We need to take what works and put proper resources into it, over a 10 year period, so that every young person, every family and every community gets the attention and support they need.

Sarah Jones is the Labour MP for Croydon Central and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime. Her proposals on knife crime in London appear in Fabian Society report, Capital Gains, which is to be published on Monday