Why is this happening?

Can’t believe what is happening on our streets, it’s almost daily. Feel sorry for the police who catch these lowlifes and then have to watch an out of touch judge dole out a ridiculously short sentence
Wouldn’t want to be a young person nowadays, must be so frightening.

prestbury

Forsythia

Weak or no sentences and do-Gooders making excuses for them means this will continue. When I was growing up in the 60’s/70’s this kind of thing didn’t happen on the scale it does today. If it did, it was front page news, on the TV and talked about for a long time. Now, it’s tomorrow’s chip paper and quickly forgotten. Knife crime just didn’t happen then. Now, it’s a brave woman who ventures out during dark hours,

I think you may be quoting your memories of the 60's and 70's from behind rose tinted glasses.

Youngsters were likely to prowl the streets with knives in the 60's and many young girls carried knives, difference being possibly that they were then just for show, even in the 50's no self respecting Teddy Boy would be seen without a switchblade, and use it.

For England & Wales murders in the 60's were around 300 and 400 per year on average and rising rapidly in the early 70's. In 1974 there were 600 murders, same as 2020/2021, remembering of course that the population was much smaller then so pro rata murders were worse than today..

Figures were taken from the governement historical crime data

I think that may depend on where you lived at the time. I’m sure in inner cities knife crime was prevalent but now it is widespread regardless of where you live. School kids weren’t stabbing each other to death regularly as a result of feeling ‘disrespected’ in the 60/70’s and I’ve lived all my life in south London.

Very scary. I worry so much for my daughters and five granddaughters.

Forsythia

Weak or no sentences and do-Gooders making excuses for them means this will continue. When I was growing up in the 60’s/70’s this kind of thing didn’t happen on the scale it does today. If it did, it was front page news, on the TV and talked about for a long time. Now, it’s tomorrow’s chip paper and quickly forgotten. Knife crime just didn’t happen then. Now, it’s a brave woman who ventures out during dark hours,

I think you may be quoting your memories of the 60's and 70's from behind rose tinted glasses.

Youngsters were likely to prowl the streets with knives in the 60's and many young girls carried knives, difference being possibly that they were then just for show, even in the 50's no self respecting Teddy Boy would be seen without a switchblade, and use it.

For England & Wales murders in the 60's were around 300 and 400 per year on average and rising rapidly in the early 70's. In 1974 there were 600 murders, same as 2020/2021, remembering of course that the population was much smaller then so pro rata murders were worse than today..

Figures were taken from the governement historical crime data

If I had to explain to someone that I didnt want to be choked I would never go near them again.

There is also a toxic mix of cultures in this country where life is cheap, stabbing is the norm and with rap videos and music it has become commonplace. It’s a feral society that is becoming more mainstream. I do think TV programmes trivialise it as another poster said. It is presented as a part of normal day to day life, like eating McDonalds, going to school etc. Pull out a knife and stab em.

I've worked within and around Criminal Justice for around 40 years and things have changed....there's not only more violence, there's a sadism to it in many cases.
Younger people are coming into the system and not only are women victims, there's a rise in them as perpetrators of violence and bullying (if younger).....this is my personal opinion of seeing the situation in my local area.
Listening to them, speaking to colleagues - it's always someone else's fault, which seems to be the cry now.
Even from Youth Offending Teams, Social Workers etc...
There's a complete lack of accountability.

I watched Zara MacDermott’s documentary about rape culture in schools and was struck by the bewilderment expressed by a group of co-operative young schoolboys about what girls do and don’t expect of them, and they seemed to be saying that in the absence of direct communication with their female counterparts they have gleaned what they can from pornography, from a very young age too.

One of them suggested that he needed to hear from girls themselves that they don’t necessarily want to be “thrown on the bed and choked”, contrary to the impression given by his viewing of porn.

It surprised me that any kind of productive dialogue between young girls and boys seemed so hard to achieve, but when it occurred it was helpful, if rather awkward.

I think there just seems to be a lot more anger about.

Realise I didn't try to answer the question as to why this is happening.

My experience of teaching both young children and adolescents suggests very strongly that the violence shown on many films does actually do harm.

Children realise that Road Runner bashing Wily E. Coyote over the head is simply a cartoon so it does no harm, but watching an actor kicking another repeatedly in the head and the defeated man gets up and walks away(!) afterwards gives them an unrealistic attitude to how much damage the human body can stand.

The other factor is one already mentioned: these youngsters have little hope of growing up to earn a good living working at something that interests them, or even just working.

Frustration causes people to do strange things and can lead many to violence.

If we want to stop any particular violent crime we need to try to stop the problems that have led to the crime being committed.

Yes, there are men who feel emasculated when women make up their own minds, earn their own livings etc. but that is their fault, not the women's.

The relatively few men who feel that way could consider getting off their backsides and making themselves into worthwhile human beings , but of course, it is easier to complain about intelligent, hardworking women than compete with them!

Have you watched Emmerdale lately? Where murder is being made to look almost funny. The character, Mina is almost comic in her response to the murders she has committed, almost excited. The rush she gets after murdering someone is played out over and over. She comes out with one-liners that only the audience would know what she is referring to in a very light hearted way. Murder is being portrayed as a light-hearted, comedy almost. Emmerdale have had this story line running for months now. They have apparently said they are stringing it out because serial killers are gold for pulling in the viewers.

I am not saying soaps are the cause but surly such viewing goes some way toward normalization of a tragic event. I dont know if the media and socail media are a cause but I think there is a correlation.

I teach teenagers, they see murder as very normalised almost inevitable and many of them are very angry and on the defensive. Even the non-angry ones, view it as a normal part of their culture. They don’t seem shocked a lad was stabbed outside the collage and it was almost Yeah? / And? So? Next? Drugs are very much part of college life too.

What shocks me is both the number of these crimes, the young ages of those committing them and the fact that many of them take place in front of other people who do nothing to stop them.

The least they could do is phone the police, if they don't feel it would be safe to interfere.

What does it say about humanity if you feel it is ok to kill two people in their home, while their young children slept upstairs, because you had an argument about parking spaces. Have we just peaked, all the stresses of the past year and a half, the dismal future for the planet, the financial struggles, the food banks, homelessness, the pandemic never ending, is it the straw that breaks the camel’s back..

I know imagine women choosing to use their skills we cant have that. I work with children with disabilities, I like to think I have contributed to society. Perhaps more so than whinging about Dr Who.

The liberal dogooders 20 years ago who started their handwring campaigns against the police and the justice department regarding pandering to the criminals .Now we have a society which doesn't respect the rule of law a media that's doing it's best to destroy Britain and its values , I'm glad I'm old sorry rant over

What I find so difficult is that it is children now who are committing such crimes. Children stabbing and murdering children. I can only think that images on mobile phones and social media are in some way responsible. Yes, O know that child soldiers are often used in war torn countries but gangs of young people here turn to violence for seemingly trivial reasons. I see a desperate youth culture with an uncertain and hopeless future. I would hate to be a child in these times, the care free innocence of childhood has vanished by the age of five..

Paperbackwriter

"I do generally believe the fabric of the family has been lost, with so many working mothers wanting it all. Plus it’s easier to get out of a marriage perhaps, than 50 years ago."

Are you seriously suggesting that the rise in crime is women's fault for daring to have careers? It's not about 'wanting it all' - it's about affording to live. Does anyone say a working man is 'wanting it all'? Can we PLEASE stop blaming women?

You’re reading what you want to see...and not what I said.

Of course I’m not saying the rise in crime is women’s fault . They are just as much victims in the breakdown of society as anyone else. You’re being naive placing all the blame on men.

I also think Nick Fletcher has a point. He may not have put it very well, but if I was a man, I’d be pretty fed up all of it too. Men have slowly been demasculated over the years. Women do want it all....well, some women.

This doesn’t give men a license to go out and attack women. Nor the other way round. No one in their right minds would think it does. Most aggrieved men will, I’m sure, carry on as usual. There’s always going to be the few who won’t. I gave two examples of stuff that happened to me 50 years ago.

There are plenty of us...women, who also don’t want a female Dr. Who, or James Bond,

When I talked about ‘ working women’ paperbackwriter, I wasn’t meaning those who have to put food on the table. I’m talking about the people who choose it over looking after their children.

Another thread no doubt.

Enquiry not equiry

For me,, when I said being a Christian, it teaches, well what I have learned ,, to love your neighbour as yourself , is the way it is sometimes worded..

Respect for others,, too much to ask? if only.
I grew up in during and after WW2 my dad was away, my mum, so I have learned since, was doing odd jobs to supplement income and feed us etc.. when she was not about, our next door neighbours were there for us,, Council estate,, we helped one another...
just small things, you could say..

are we looking for reasons why,, or what can be done to rectify , human behaviour?

I think just pre covid there was supposed to be a government equiry into the effects of porn, I am not sure it ever happened.

Sad. And females expect to be able to be safe. This wasn't really true years ago - one was always told to be with family, not go out alone, not in the dark etc and people do do that now (me too) - but one effect is that there is more opportunity for the predator.

Yes that would explain the absolute avalanche of female crime that occurred when females had no visible role models for 50 years.

What's not been widely reported is that when Ava was killed it was White Ribbon Day when events are held to mark ending violence against women - I do wonder if there was something going on that the boys used as an excuse for their violence? And I also continually wonder if the easy accessibility to porn (much of it containing sexual violence against women) - even by young boys, is fuelling their anger that real women are not so submissive, demand equal rights, and even (gasp!) reject them. I'm sure that seeing violent porn, especially at a young age, can't be helping boys attitudes (and behaviour) towards girls.

It is usually people they know that kill women, domestic violence

I can see where Nick Fletcher is coming from. It used to be women were the weaker sex and it was shameful for a man to hit a woman. In striking for equality I think there is now an over emphasis of positive, strong, in-charge females on TV whilst at the same time men are more ofen portrayed as selfish, weak, immoral, criminal. Give that message to the generation brought up with minimal discipline and I'm not surprised that male voilence is spilling over onto women, afterall men have always been violent. Equality it seems.