There is still time to end knife crime culture, says Scots expert

Jul 27 2008 By Lesley Roberts

KNIFE crime expert Karyn McCluskey refuses to accept there is no hope of change.

As deputy head of Strathclyde's Violence Reduction Unit, she spends her days working with some of Scotland's worst offenders.

And she is convinced the key is to prevent young boys picking up a knife in the first place.

Karyn said: "The guys you spoke to in Polmont are typical of what we find - they don't empathise with people they injure, they don't think they're harming anyone and they mistakenly believe everyone carries a knife.

"We have to talk to guys like that if we've got any chance of putting strategies together that work.

"I believe there's hope. Times are hard but Scots have never shirked from a challenge.

"Things are changing for the better but they will take a bit of time."

Karyn regularly visits Polmont to talk to inmates.

As she is also a qualified nurse, she is desperate to get the message out - there is no safe place to stab anyone.

She said: "The last time I went in to Polmont, some of the inmates told me it was safest to stab someone in the backside.

"I told them if they hit the artery there, their victim would bleed to death in six minutes.

"We need to find ways that convince them they don't have to pick up a knife at all.

"They might put it in their sock and think they'll never use it but if a fight kicks off that's the first thing they will go for.

"Carrying a knife is using a knife and the fear of that affects everyone."

Karyn says statistics show that the problem is not as widespread as the inmates would have us believe.

Last year 162,624 people were targeted, stopped and searched by Strathclyde officers but 2389 blades were found - more than six a day.

Karyn plans to set up a mentoring programme for teenage males to show them a life away from violence.

She said: "We've got experts coming from the US in October to talk to us about mentoring.

"Lots of young guys have no significant male role models. Mentors have been successful in the US.

"Maybe it's time we had a similar scheme."

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