LONDON: The sight of a family mourning a teenage child, killed by young assailants with no obvious motive, is becoming increasingly familiar in Britain.

The young victims have come from many walks of life and social classes. An actor appearing in the next Harry Potter film was stabbed to death outside a bar. A former altar boy was murdered in a baker’s shop.

Fifteen-year-old Arsema Dawit, who was repeatedly stabbed in the elevator of an apartment block on Monday, was the 16th teenage victim of violence in London this year.

There are fewer murders in Britain than many other countries but the spate of stabbings is dominating the media and political debate, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his struggling Labour government.

“Every parent will want their teenage sons and daughters not only to be safe but feel safe in our neighbourhoods,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown told members of parliament on Wednesday.

“That’s why knives are unacceptable and we’ve got to do everything in our power to deter them.”

Britain is only 46th in a United Nations table of homicides per 1,000 people below the United States, Canada and France.

Murders in London have been dropping overall. Official figures show violent offences have fallen since Labour came to power in 1997 under Brown’s predecessor, Tony Blair, with a vow to be “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.

But the use of knives and the number of stabbings involving young people as victims or killers buck that trend.

One of the reasons has been a proliferation of weapons carried out of fear and because it is seen in some quarters as fashionable, said Tom Sackville, Assistant Director of Prevention Services at the charity Crime Concern.

Some young people carry knives for their own protection and others see them as a status symbol, he said.

“Almost all young people who say that they carry a knife say they wouldn’t use it. But clearly once it is in your possession it is much more likely it will be used or used on yourself,” he said.

Experts say violence can be caused by anything from minor disputes between youths over a so-called lack of respect to “postcode wars” turf battles based on mail delivery areas.

Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, says offences have become more severe and that the age of offenders and victims has fallen to the early- to mid-teens, a trend he calls a ‘worrying change”.

ON THE VERGE OF A CRISIS?: Ray Lewis, deputy mayor for young people under London’s newly-elected conservative mayor, has said the capital is “on the verge of crisis”.

“So much of British society has broken down and failed,” Lewis said. “When the families do not work well and our schools are under increasing pressure to do more, we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place.”

Brown, whose party is at record lows in opinion polls, has promised to get tough.

In London, where police estimate there are 171 street gangs, officers are using powers to stop and search teenagers for weapons without the need for reasonable suspicion.

In the first two weeks of the “in-your-face policing” as police describe it almost 200 weapons were seized and more than 200 people were arrested. Last week the government unveiled a $6-million advertising campaign to warn young people of the dangers of carrying knives.

On Thursday Brown told police to assume they must prosecute youngsters aged 16 who are caught with knives rather than let them off with a caution.

“The stark message for young people needs to be you will end up either dead or in jail if you persist in carrying a weapon,” said Police Minister Tony McNulty.

But the tough talk has failed to convince academics or experts on gangs. They say the approach could make matters worse and police officials say enforcement alone will not work.

“Very often criminal justice is the wrong answer because it is not addressing the root problem and sometimes it can make things worse,” said Roger Grimshaw, Research Director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at London’s King’s College university.

He said strict policing carried its own risks, disaffecting the young people that needed to be brought onside.

Jonathon Toy, a founder of the London Gangs, Guns and Weapons Forum which brings together experts from across the capital, said projects that help individuals escape the gang lifestyle find it hard to receive the long-term support needed.—Reuters