Life on a knife edge, by William Graham

From Yong Voices Issue 9, winter 2007

With the threat of knives and gangs constantly hanging over our heads and the negative portrayal of young people in the media, it’s no wonder people automatically associate any group of young people as a gang.  But just who is responsible for most of the crime in Easterhouse?  And do all adults really think all youths in Easterhouse are knife wielding thugs? 

We all know that knife crime happens..

but what most people don’t know is exactly how serious knife crime is in OUR AREA and who is responsible. In 2004-5 there were 3,444 people in Scotland convicted for carrying a knife or other offensive weapon.* Also 72 people were murdered with a sharp instrument during this time. 

So our question was:

Why is this still going on?

Through talking to local people we discovered that most people who carry knives do it for protection or just plainly to act hard and cool around their friends!  We then asked some local young people what their views on knives were and most of them were totally against people carrying knives and had never done so themselves.  This shows that not all young people are involved in knife crime; in fact, most young people just want to have fun without the threat of violence hanging over them.

Most people in our area have the understanding that gang fighting and knife crime is and always has been a part of Glasgow’s culture, they don’t necessarily agree with it but feel there isn’t much they can do and as a result, the police are often used as scapegoats for not doing enough.

We all know that the police are fighting to cut down on the amount of people carrying knives or sharp object and the penalty is a definition of five years in prison. Although the police state they are doing all they can a lot of young people are increasingly feeling very disillusioned with them, feeling victimised and discriminated against by them and that they are just looking for someone to lock up.

Feel safe - but never know when they could be threatened

On the whole most people say they feel safe in their area but never know when they could be threatened which makes them that little cautious. The police should do more to make young people see them as friends instead of enemies. Personally I feel that the police are doing the best they can but the job of tackling knife crime is always going to be a long hard battle.

Most of the violence seems to be due to a lack of things for young people to do.

Although Easterhouse has a knife crime problem it is still only a minority of people who carry yet it’s the majority of young people who seem to be tarred by the same brush in the media, creating distrust towards them. Not all young people are in gangs in fact most young people just want to hang around and have fun. Most of the violence seems to be due to a lack of things for young people to do. If there was more integration projects trying to bring schemes together and if there was more local people taking an active role in what was happening in their area then perhaps the gang violence and knife crime would fall. Everyone must take responsibility for their own area, from local organisations, parents, adults and especially young people, only then will Easterhouse and Glasgow become a safer place to live.

*Figures taken from The Scotsman

Caption: (Young People from different schemes getting together and having fun)

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