Knife crimes

While there is no major problem with guns in this country, there have been many recent news reports of stabbings in London and other cities. Teen gang members are knifing each other at the average rate of one per day. Last week, there were five stabbings in one day. As could be expected, many of the victims die. Now more and more teens are arming themselves with knives "for protection."

This weekend there were lawmakers on news talk shows discussing legislation they are proposing to deal with this epidemic. Their primary approach focuses on education, or 'shock techniques' as they call it, to make teens aware of the serious injuries that can be inflicted with a knife. (One dad told his son that the knife wouldn't do serious damage if he only jabbed at the person's arms, legs, or buttocks.) One MP (Member of Parliament) wants to bring slides and pictures of knife injuries to schools and show them to all students. Kids caught with knives would visit the hospitals to see the injuries first-hand, would meet personally with the parents and victims to hear them describing their pain and suffering, and would go to prisons to hear from inmates about serving time for knifings.

They are also considering imposing a curfew for teens in certain neighborhoods.

There is already a law on the books that punishes knife carrying with a four-year jail sentence. Authorities are pushing for more police presence in the affected areas with stricter enforcement of this law.

This approach to the problem I think is intelligent and thoughtful. It immediately makes me aware of what a small country England is. This is the equivalent to a single community taking action in the U.S. How much easier and less complicated it is to solve problems and implement solutions in a country of this size.