News / Society

UK authorities launch Operation Scepter to fight youth violence

Saturday, 22 July 2017 3:30 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 22 July 2017 6:34 PM ]

UK police patrol by the Houses of Parliament on June 16, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

British authorities have launched Operation Scepter in an effort to stem rising youth violence in the country.

Police said a total of 32 Forces around the country were taking part in Operation Scepter -- a national week of action on knife crime-- which runs until July 23, media reported on Sunday.

Officers have been visiting hundreds of schools as part of the operation, involving everything from quizzes on criminal responsibility to self-esteem classes.

Meanwhile, police recorded more than 12,100 knife attacks which left 4,400 people injured between April last year and March, the highest figure in five years.

Twenty-seven people under the age of 25 have been stabbed to death in London since the start of 2017, according to figures from city hall.

This photo shows knives seized by London police. (Photo by AFP)

"Many of the victims of stabbing are left with permanent disabilities, permanent scars, and the most awful disability which isn't reported is the mental trauma," Patrick Green from the Ben Kinsella Trust, an educational organization set up in memory of a teenage stabbing victim told media.

"The fact that you recover doesn't mean that you return to your normal life," he said.

The alarming figure is but "the tip of the iceberg" according to Green.

This photo taken on April 27, 2017 shows a British police forensics officer holding a knife as he collects evidence on Whitehall near the Houses of Parliament in central London. (Photo by AFP)

Acid attacks

Following a recent spate of acid attacks, the government decided to take measures to tackle the issue.

One of the measures is to urge courts of law to impose life sentences where appropriate, or seeking age checks for those buying corrosive substances.

The home secretary, Amber Rudd, said an overhaul of current guidelines would ensure those who used noxious liquids as a weapon felt “the full force of the law”.

Rudd advised her peers that hefty prison sentences be handed to violent offenders.

“I am clear that life sentences must not be reserved for acid attack survivors,” she wrote in an article this week in UK media.

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