Youth Street Crime, UK

A BLOODY FEBRUARY, IS THIS JUST THE START OF A COLD YEAR?

Since the start of 2007, eight people have been reported as victims of gang related attacks in South London, four of which were fatal.

Shootings have been around in the heart of South London for many years, however a growing concern has risen of the fact that the majority in 2006 and 2007 have been linked to young teenagers in the black community.

Not too far from were young Damiloa Taylor was found bleeding to death, over 5 incidents involving guns has taken place around Peckham, resulting in 4 fatalities and three injured over the past three weeks.

It began on the 3rd February when Javoire Crighton was found in his bedroom bleeding, by his older sister who desperately tried to resuscitate him just minutes before he died.

Later on that evening 16 year old James Andre Smarrt-Ford was gunned down in front of 300 skaters in the Streatham Ice Rink at 11pm.

 With that being shocking enough to be absorb by the public and their loved ones, another fatal shooting occurred not too far from where Javoire was killed. Michael Dosunmu, 15 was found dead in his bed in Peckham by his sister in the early hours of February 6th, within 72 hours between the tragic incidents the police are said to have found a link between Javoire Crighton and Michael Dosunmu’s death but reckon it was a case of mistaken identity that lead to the death of the 15 year old from Peckham.

On Valentines Day (14th February 2007) Billy Cox, 15 was found shot in his bedroom by his 12 year old sister and her friend shortly after they heard a loud noise coming from his room. With his sister being hysterical, her friend attempted to administer first aid while an ambulance was called, however he was pronounced dead at the scene.

As recent as the 16th February, Two people were wounded after a member of a youth gang randomly opened fire on members of the public in a busy street in Hackney, East London.

During all these unfortunate events three sentences were given to three individual youths on two separate offences, which also reflected similar characteristics to these recent offences as they occurred in South London, where also gun related and all resulted in fatalities. However no links between these incidents have been confirmed.  Two teenage brothers have been jailed for killing a woman who was shot dead as she held her baby niece at a christening party. Timy and Diamond Babamuboni were sentenced as juveniles despite extensive doubts about their true ages.

 

The other sentence was given to Roberto Malasi, who murdered two innocent and defenceless women in unprovoked attacks within the space of 15 days.

Cindy Butts, of the Metropolitan Police Authority says “As shocking as these events are, we have had a 16% drop in the number of gun crimes here in London and I think it is important that we don't scaremonger, that we don't blow things out of proportion," she told BBC News.

However the numbers of fatalities have increased from 31 in 2003 to 76 in 2006 according to the Scotland Yard’s Operation Trident unit.

Since these incidents have occurred, armed police will begin to roam the streets of South London in hope to prevent and tackle a spate of fatal shootings.

The increase of police presence may temporarily intimidate potential offenders and stop any possible street crime and cause a decline in minor crime on the streets, but how will this stop these such young people from getting access of deadly weapons?

The price of a gun that can be illegally purchased begins from a very cheap cost of £50 to £200, further more you can hire a gun for £200 a night, leaving no trace of who used it. So using a gun as a defence or an offence is more of an option than it may have been in the past.

With guns being cheaper, more accessible and considered an easier solution they may be easier to dispose of and purchased again when necessary.

With every attempt of the Operation Trident unit, who target 11- 16-year-old Afro Caribbean, to stop youngsters from being lured by the glamorisation of guns by using music, posters and videos and the successful weapons amnesty campaign each year, gun crime fatalities is still on the rise, despite gun crime as a whole decreasing each year.

Mrs Cope, who resigns in South London said: "This is what happens in the Bronx. Peckham has become England's Bronx.”

This maybe partly the truth as the youth in London are heavily copying the lifestyle of the ‘ghettos’ in the United States of America. Using Hip Hop lyrics and lifestyles as their aspiration in life, they also imitate other aspects that reflect on the US urban culture, such as their speech, dress code and attitude.

Similar to a scene taken out from the film ‘Coming to America’, on Thursday 28th September 2006, a gunman opened fire on two youths, aged 17 at McDonald’s Brixton, South London in front of families and school children. Is South London really turning into the Ghettos of New York or is this just a provisional phase? What can the government really offer to the communities to make it a safer London for people to walk without fear of their life?

If this is really becoming the new Bronx, what’s next after ‘stop and search’? Place metal detectors in schools? Enforce early curfews for the youths to keep them off the street? But still, will any of this really help?

Considering how hard hitting this news is for many, Tony Blair declared an emergency meeting with the police to find out way of preventing further shootings from occurring, or at least try and control the situation. He emphasised that he wishes to lower the level of age that a minimum 5-year sentence can be given to for possessing a gun, from 21 to 17 years old. The police also backed this as they felt that the youths who are found with a possession of a gun deserve a harsher punishment and not just a slap on the wrist. But if this law was intact and armed police were on the streets since last year, would it have prevented these tragic incidents from happening? This is very doubtful.

Statistics show that throughout 2006 a total of 266 gun crimes and five homicides were committed in Southwark, which includes Peckham. Although the number of gun crime is falling, so is the age of the gunman is falling, with children as young as 14 years old charged with murder however in Lambeth, which is next door to Southwark, there were 239 gun crimes and 15 killings over the same period, with just over half the amount, Lewisham recorded 185 firearm related incidents and five killing, according to the Metropolitan Operation Trident.

With the evidential increase of police walking the streets of Peckham and other parts of South London there is a little reassurance of less crime on the streets, however the streets are lacking pedestrians, but instead an overload of traffic of cars. How did London ever get to this? Will these past killings make potential offenders think twice? Will this ever stop? According to a gang member that was interviewed by the BBC, "No. Simple question, simple answer - no. It's not like that. We don't think about that kind of stuff. The guns are always in London. It just takes a little argument from two people to start a feud."

Worryingly enough, this issue has been around for years and only now is the police and the media working together to air the news instead making each death relating to gangs and gun culture another statistic for the Home Office chart, however with the exposure these stories are getting, parents and other family members are now afraid for their children to go to school or leave the house without the presence of an adult with them, in fear of them getting shot, stabbed or bullied/pressured into joining gangs.