Gang culture is spreading in London. Children as young as 14 years old are involved in violent crime and they are vulnerable to gang crime at an alarmingly younger age.
The Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith MP said in a speech at the recent Conservative Party conference that action is necessary to end the gang violence in London; “With no role models except the violent and the criminal, like child soldiers of the third world, these young minds bear the deep scars of a life filled with anger and violence.”
Yes, that is true but to tackle this serious issue good mentoring programs have to be set up and financed so these children can have some role models and mentors from their communities. Intervention is needed from a very young age as early as five years old. As the Coalition Government is busy with the cuts all the services for young people are being cut and the streets corners and housing estates are the places they end up spending most of their time.
Ian Duncan Smith does highlight the problem but to prevent it, it does need strategic policies to address the underlying issues. Talking alone won’t help it and blaming the previous Labour Government of a “terrible failure” in tackling gangs, with spending on prisons and offender management up 80 per cent but 26,000 more people in prison than in 1997 is not the solution or an indicator of success.
These kids in London need to be looked after and is not easy to remark that toughest enforcement against these young children will be put in place, if they refuse Governments offer and help.
Duncan Smith insisted that simply locking up troublemakers would not solve deep-rooted social problems and said reforming society was the “challenge of our generation”.
We want to see the challenge of our generation soon; it is not in anyone’s interest to see more violent crime on the London streets by children as young as 14 years old using guns part of the gang culture.
It seems that the Government is neither joined or serious in dealing with the deep-rooted big society social issues. The rhetoric of the Prime Minister has changed from hug a hoodie to kick and knock down a hoodie.
Whatever happened to compassionate and forward thinking politics of the 21st Century to rise to the challenges of our modern day society?
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Semra Eren-Nijhar 