London Classroom Fights Crime Recruitment Among Vulnerable Children

In London, some girls are facing a tough situation. These girls, ages thirteen and fourteen, attend school in north London, and are targeted by recruiters seeking them for drug dealing gangs. These gangs are called “county lines.”

At a workshop, the girls admitted to being targets, but are not ready to share all details yet. Recruiters use threats and playground tricks. A gang member may “save” kids from bullies, and then the gang takes that kid under its wing.

These three girls are a third of the workshop, where expert mentors guide at-risk kids. Mentors hope to steer them from exploitation, and turn them away from knife crime and gangs.

Some other kids might also be targets, and may know people in this dangerous world. These friends are “gone country,” trapped by criminals. Drug runners can be “debt bonded,” and are intimidated into doing what criminals want.

These kids carry knives for protection. They often skip school and go missing, working from “cuckooed” homes where gangs take over to sell drugs.

The workshops use creative arts and strategies. Teens learn key skills and conflict resolution, which helps them shift from violence toward better actions.

After school is a risky time. Kids meet with The Safety Box then, attending workshops, which London’s Violence Reduction Unit funds.

They practice what to do if someone has a knife. Kids chant, “shift, adjust, rise above it,” learning in practical scenarios and learning actions for when threatened on the bus.

Experts see this as a public health approach. They want to cut knife crime in half and urge the government to invest more money, addressing the causes of youth violence.

Knife murders among kids rose sharply, with The Office for National Statistics sharing this news recently; numbers rose 240% in the past ten years.

The government plans to punish knife sales, potentially jailing people for up to two years for selling knives to kids. This law is called “Ronan’s Law.”

Grooming kids for drug dealing has penalties, with people potentially facing up to ten years in prison, and “cuckooing” will soon be illegal too, potentially resulting in a five-year prison sentence.

The government is considering rounded kitchen knives. Actor Idris Elba first suggested this idea, but this measure is still up for debate.

Lib Peck directs London’s Violence Reduction Unit. She wants focus on violence prevention, as responding to violence is not enough.

Sadiq Khan created London’s VRU in 2019. They work with police, schools, and healthcare, as well as councils, youth workers, and parents. The Home Office backed the scheme, and set up seventeen VRUs nationwide.

Peck wants more focus on long-term causes. She thinks money for prevention helps more, telling The Independent that reinvesting money would “go so much further.”

The VRU’s work has been worthwhile. Eight in ten schools saw better attendance and behavior, while mentors worked in pupil referral units.

Youth workers are now in hospitals and police stations. Ninety percent of engaged kids did not reoffend later, within twelve months.

Nathaniel Peat founded The Safety Box. The program has been running for eighteen years, working with nearly thirty thousand kids. His team is trained in therapy and life-coaching, with eighty percent being ex-offenders themselves.

Their past and mentoring skills benefit kids, Peat said, explaining that these experiences are a powerful tool.

Hudson was in trouble with the law. He turned his life around, having a mentor for thirteen months, which was very intensive support.

Hudson had to wear a monitoring tag. The Safety Box staff was the only support, after he started selling drugs for cash.

His brother was charged with attempted murder. Hudson was in a cycle of arrests, and care homes deemed him too risky.

Hudson said he realized things were bad. He said others seemed ready to set him up, speaking about Safety Box changing his life.

He said he would be in jail without them. His mentor took him to new places, and they even watched Manchester United play.

The mentor showed him a better life, Hudson said, and it showed him opportunities if he stopped dealing.

Michael also sold drugs for money, feeling like he had nothing to lose. Two friends died from knife crime deaths, and now he wants to be a rapper.

A mentor helps Michael with his music. He was charged with theft and assault, and more funding could help his musical talent.

Michael wants a different way to approach knife crime. He said tougher sentences do not change much.

He believes that some kids fear for their lives. They feel they must carry a knife, and one person with a knife causes others to carry one.