UK Knife Crime - Availability of knives and parental responsibility?

Question

On Question Time tonight the issue of knife crime was discussed.

It is illegal to sell a knife to a person under the age of 18.

(If they are being sold illegally by hardware stores, supermarkets why isn't this being picked up by local trading standards offices.)

It was also said that most of the knives carried are kitchen knives.

So this must mean that the majority of knives are being removed from a domestic location.

Don’t the parents bear the responsibility for allowing their offspring to remove knives from the house?

If that is the case - isn’t there a case for the parents to be charged and arrested for supplying an illegal weapon?

Answer 1

So will we be expected to lock up our knives?  And screwdrivers?  And golf clubs?  Cricket bats?

What about broken bottles - that could kill you.  Should we lock up all our glass bottles?

Teenagers hide things from their parents.  It's what they do.  They know their parents won't allow them to carry knives - so how do you suppose fining the parents will help?

If a child carries a knife, charge and arrest the child.

Answer 2

There is a shop in glasgow that sells knifes and numb chucks and things - i bought numb chucks when i was 14 and a knife when i was 16 - they never asked me my age or anything  ( i never actually used them btw )

but its so easy to hold of a knife.

-

for the smart **** down there these are numb chucks  -

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...

d**k'ed

Answer 3

I can remember over 30 years ago that possession of knives was a problem, then most of us were in Cub Scouts/Guides and having a pen knife was all part of the kit.

The Swiss army knife )plenty big enough to cause serious harm) was the one everyone wanted.

I can also remember friends sneaking out of the house with various domestic knives and sneaking them back before parents noticed. (no body searches very ever done in my home)

It was about 'street cred' then as it mostly is now, but now ganga are bigger, more tribal and are 'competing' for the same territory.

Answer 4

A knife doesn't kill ; the person using it does,just as guns don't go off by themselves. If we remove all knives, these cowards would find some other weapons. Discipline,law and order seem to come to mind. When I was young the threat of corporal punishment kept me in line.

Answer 5

Parents do have responsibility for their children, yes. But a parent can't be around 24/7 to supervise their children. They can only do their best. I don't think charging and arresting parents for just having knives in the house that their child then takes makes sense at all. It's not like a shifty bloke on the street who sells some kid a flick knife or something - that would be supplying a weapon. The difference is if the parent knows that the child is taking a knife, and does nothing.

I'm not sure how this could all work. But on a tangent, I don't think that increased stopping and searching teenagers is going to do much more than p**s people off.

Answer 6

Well  if a cashier at a supermarket serves a knife to an under 18 yes its illegal but the store or the cashier will not be prosecuted but if they serve alcohol  they they would be fines up to 5000 pound and the cashier loose her job the law on knife sales isnt as strict as i should be you can buy knifes on ebay if your under 18 and no one would question you there is loads of ways to get hold of one

Answer 7

Yes, something very very drastic needs to be done to halt the flow of knife crime.

Parents to need to be charged with supplying a weapon and there needs to be a mandatory 10 year prison sentence for anyone carrying a knife.

Too many good people have been lost to knife crimes.

There needs to be a line drawn by the Government and the Police to say this is totally unacceptable!

Answer 8

Very hard to say that a parent is "supplying an illegal weapon" as it would be the intent that was in question..and how many parents do have what could be a lethel weapon in our kitchens..Actually it is not knife crime per se that has increased in the last 10 yrs (British Crime Survey) but Home Office statistics show the number of murders involving a "sharp instrument" increased from 197 in 1996 to 258 in 2006-07. It could be argued that it is the overall messages from parents that is lacking in many of the cases

Answer 9

stop looking for scapegoats why blame the parents?

what ever happened to individual responsibility in the country?

if some scum bag really wants to grab a knife and start slashing people put the blame where it should be put at the feet of the criminal

do you really honestly think parants are saying to their kids oh grab a blade outta the kitchen son and stab some fella its  really cool ?

Answer 10

what's a numb chuck?????

I have used nunchuka's before, are they the same? or are they for numb-nuts????

And as for the previous answer, I'd sooner see teenagers being peed-off than in a coffin....

Answer 11

many of the children who are interviewed in relation to this topic seem to come from homes where there appears to be little supervision

there is a culture of gang membership among some and in many cases their are no fathers in the homes

parents need to take responsibility for all aspects of their childrens lives and it would be a start if some of these 'mothers' had a stable relationship with the 'father' before they so willingly produced a child

my sister in law works in a day nursery where many of the children have the same father (different mothers) and it is not uncommon in some communities

these same communities are the homes of many violent gangs

it seems no one takes responsibility for their children - until their is a serious incident - and then it is everyone else's fault but the parent(s)

Answer 12

Honestly I don't think parents should feel they have to put a padlock on the kitchen cutlery drawer to avoid a potential prison sentance if that is your implication.

Governments and Police forces can't solve all of society's problems unless you want to see half the population behind bars. Fathers used to be dominant figures who kept their kids under control but the new feminist approved style of father is not up to the job if a father is even in the household at all.

If a boy doesn't have an alpha male in his home he's going to look for one elsewhere and often he finds him in the form of a gang leader.

The corrolation between permissive/absent fathers and criminality is absolutely clear but we pussyfoot around it to avoid offending people.

Answer 13

in this case i disagree im a parent and i know the last thing i do is count the cuttlery in my kitchen drawer, although my kids (i pray) would never carry one it is impossible for parents to police this issue, if the kid wants to take a knife from his/her own house it is nigh on impossible to stop them, laws are already in place to stop minors buying them from shops and the store CAN get fined for selling them, the authorities just need to come down harder on the places that do sell them to juveniles

The issue that needs to be addressed is parent apathy, more discipline is needed, if you ask my children they will say i am very harsh on them but i know they respect me for this and to a large degree they do as they are told, its lazy parenting in a wider spectrum thats the problem

edit - I take issue with a couple of the answers below it isnt "most parents" that dont look after and control their kids its a minority, my children are well disciplined and controlled but this doesnt mean they are immune to peer pressure or other factors that could influence them to do something that they would not otherwise consider, one thing we need to consider is that youth crime hasnt gone up its the media reporting of such incidences that has increased

Answer 14

I heard a senior doctor calling fro kitchen knives with shrp point being banded.

Really what utter c**p this is.  We need swrious policing of our childern both at home and in public.  The Police have been run down to such a level tht they now command no respect.

We know where the gangs go and where fights are likely.  Put a policeman or 3 in these hot spots to prevent problems.

Arrest and punish with the full wieght if the law those carrying weapons.

Answer 15

Keypoint..has (in my opinion) hit the nail on the head.

Kudos to you + thumbs up Keypoint.

Within the animal kingdom all males need an Alpha male to become compliant to, an alpha is a male usually associated with experience and therefore dominance

We are not so far removed from the apes as we like to think

Feminists are going to hate me for this, but we need men, otherwise chaos ensues

Answer 16

Most parents are not interested in what there children do anymore as long they are not under there feet ! the Government should start making the parents accountable for there children, a good way to do this would be fine the parents