London knife crime hits record high as 16-year-old stabbed in Hillingdon becomes 30th teen victim this year

The Metropolitan Police has said that a 16-year-old boy has died after being stabbed in Hillingdon, west London, making him the 30th teenage homicide in the capital in 2021, surpassing a peak of 29 in 2008.

This follows the death of a 15-year-old boy in Croydon after he was fatally stabbed late on Thursday night.

Spiking youth violence has been attributed by some to social media use amongst young people.

Junior Smart, who is the founder of the St Giles Trust SOS Project that seeks to stop young people getting into a life of crime, said technology giants should be asked to invest profits into areas blighted by violence.

“Violence has been normalised, especially over the last 10 years through social media.

Sadiq Khan tweeted his displeasure at the record.
@MayorofLondon

“It’s a crazy situation here where if a person goes to a live event and starts livestreaming music they will be silenced and perhaps have a sanction, whereas someone can be online posting violence and use the p word or the n word or a load of expletives and nothing actually happens.

“The reality is that social media platforms have got a lot to answer for. In practically every situation where we’ve seen violence happen there has been some sort of connection with an online platform in some form.

“Why are these social media platforms not being held to account? Why are we so scared of asking really difficult questions and why are these social media platforms not putting more money back in the communities that are being affected by violence?”