Teenagers tell City Hall that knife crime is Bristol’s ‘main problem for young people’

A group of teenagers came to City Hall to say knife crime is Bristol’s “main problem for young people”. Members of Bristol City Youth Council said they had spent months working on the rise in knife crime, representing young people’s voices to politicians.

The Youth Council is made up of 29 members, aged between 11 and 18, who were voted in by the city’s schools and youth groups in January earlier this year. They are advocating for issues that matter to young people and spoke at a full council meeting on Tuesday 9 July.

Two young mayors led the council until recently, when members decided to drop the role of mayors and replace them with three community leaders spread across different parts of the city. Campaigning on a range of issues, including knife crime, the youth council is raising awareness of how the issues facing Bristol affect young people.

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Binta, a youth councillor, said: “The theme of knife crime was chosen by young people in Bristol as many places have been massively affected by the rise in knife violence. The Knife Crime Group aims to help raise awareness of this issue by working with policy makers and senior authorities. They hope to do this by holding events such as sponsored silences to help raise money for the cause.

“The prevention, education and wellbeing group focuses on how to educate young people on how to prevent and recognize unsafe situations. This includes working in schools to help find out what support is available to young people around mental health and safety. This group is to tackle the root causes of knife crime.”

Another group focuses on working with the police on their plans to tackle knife crime, as well as building trust between officers and young people. Area forums are held in three parts of Bristol three times a year, where young people attend to share their views with youth advisers.

Nina, another youth adviser, added: “Some of the issues that have come up since our last youth forums in June were knife crime and safety, specific areas where some young people feel unsafe, shoplifting and the effects on communities, being made to feel. such as criminals in certain shops, age discrimination, the need for more lighting in certain areas, a lack of activities and provision for young people and racial profiling by security guards.”

Knife crime will be on the agenda of two of Bristol City Council’s new policy committees. Both the children and young people committee and the public health and communities committee have plans in their agenda to discuss the growing problem and seek solutions. A Labor councilor said urgent investment was needed in youth clubs.

Labor councilor Louis Martin, who represents Frome Vale, said: “Our ward does not have a dedicated youth center which can be so important for the development of teenagers. This provision could be the difference between our young people having experiences that positively set them up for life and those that set them up for failure.

“This year, a teenager in my ward was involved in a stabbing and charged with attempted murder. This heartbreaking and avoidable event, one of many, underlines the urgent need for further investment in youth services and I am committed to working with parents, community groups and the police to prevent future tragedies.”