Last week’s murder of schoolgirl Jessie Wright shocked the community. While friends and family continue to mourn, the tragic incident has far-reaching repercussions for the whole of Islington. The borough has a serious and long-running problem with anti-social behaviour, and Jessie’s death is, sadly, just another example of this.
In the last two years alone, three Islington boys – Martin Dinnegan, Naz Osawe and Ben Kinsella – have fallen victim to knife violence. Robbery and gun crime are on the rise, and in January 2010, over 2000 crimes were committed within the borough. On 3 March, 16-year-old Jessie Elouise Wright was last seen visiting her aunt at her house just off the Caledonian Road. By 3.30pm on 4 March, she was dead. Her body was found in a deserted stretch of the Delhi Outram Estate, where she lived with her grandmother, far from the gaze of the police who should – by rights – have been protecting her.
So who should be held to account for Jessie’s death? And for all the other lives which, like hers, have been lost due to the blight of anti-social behaviour in Islington’s neighbourhoods?
While it’s tempting to dismiss tragic incidents like Jessie’s death as isolated acts of violence, these events reveal something far more troubling than we often like to admit. Violence among young people is endemic in Islington today, and if we’re ever going to solve the problem it’s something we need to confront head-on.
Police have been dealing with the issue for years, and they have put more and more measures in place to tackle the problems which arise. Police patrols help keep violence on the notorious Westbourne Estate under control, by making official presence felt day and night. Young troublemakers on estates have been invited to the offices of Homes for Islington to sign ‘behaviour contracts’, in order to reinforce the boundaries of what’s acceptable. Success rates have been high in the estates where the scheme has been introduced.
Moreover, youth clubs have been set up in various locations to give young people a sense of purpose and to keep them off the streets. In Canonbury, the Safer Neighbourhoods Team organise boxing lessons to encourage young people to channel their violence into controlled environment.
Efforts are being made to confront Islington’s youth violence – but is it enough?
Problem hot-spots still exist throughout the borough, with violent incidents reported on a weekly basis on the Bemerton, Marquess and Cally Estates, and the now-infamous Outram Estate.
And it’s not just Islington that has a problem with anti-social behaviour. Denis O’Connor, chief inspector of constabulary, recently spoke of the “chronic illness that causes corrosive harm in communities”. The corrosive harm caused in Islington has been made quite clear. On a national level, police forces throughout England and Wales have been accused of failing to take anti-social behaviour seriously. Incidents are often not recorded properly and the follow-up rate is low: Fiona Pilkington and David Askew are the latest examples in this trail of ineptitude and blunders on the part of the police. Figures from a recent survey show that confidence in both the Metropolitan and City of London Police is only rated as “fair”, with police not turning up in 23 per cent of incidents of anti-social behaviour.
So what can we do to change both the perception and reality of street violence, on a local and national level? More police on the beat would be a step in the right direction. Community forces need to target problem areas, and extra cover is needed on evenings and at weekends in housing estates and parks. CCTV should also be installed as a deterrent, and to provide further protection for individuals, particularly women, who may be vulnerable to attack. This should be targeted at crime hot-spots where police presence is ineffectual. A knife amnesty, as suggested by local MP Emily Thornberry, would undoubtedly cut violence of this type. In addition, education from a young age in schools around the borough would help eliminate the attitude that lead to anti-social behaviour in the first place.
It’s easy to blame the police for not doing enough, but the rest of the community should take responsibility too. Professor Gloria Laycock, director of the Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science, has spoken out about this, arguing that we all need to take some control over what is happening where we live. According to her research, 66 per cent of people said they would do nothing if confronted with anti-social behaviour. We cannot let this continue in Islington. As local councillor Paul Convery says: “If there is one positive thing we can do in Jessie Wright’s memory, it is to redouble our efforts to stop the anti-social behaviour in this neighbourhood.”
The police have a role to play. We all have a role to play. If another young life is not to be lost, we need to work together, as a community, starting today.
Here’s something else that might help:-
1. Bring back the cane in schools. Re-introduce discipline into the classroom.
2. An ASBO is a place-holder punishment, a piece of paper where an actual punishment should be. Bring back corporal punishment for ‘anti-social’ behavior, along with strict restrictions, curfews, etc.
3. Bring back Borstals for repeat offenders. The public must be protected before the rights of the criminals are considered.
I think that should soon alleviate the problem. It certainly used to work fairly effectively.
Really?