by Carlos Hurworth

Created on: October 21, 2009   Last Updated: October 22, 2009

With sharp rises in knife crime and other gang related violence both within alleged gangs and towards the general civilian population recently, youth crime has been a poignant issue for many in London and the UK as a whole. While all youth crime statistics have seen a rise (there was controversy earlier this year in relation to a manipulation of government figures released that suggested there was a decline in youth crime, later exposed as not taking into account penalty notices for disorder relating to minor offences and anti-social behaviour, which were decidedly significant), the biggest rises have been seen in relation to crimes relating to violence.

In recent years the murder rate in the country has been said to have tripled, while the government has continued to scramble for ideas on policy to reduce youth crime and its related problems, often coining the phrase broken Britain, when referring to the country's problems, and blaming their peers and opposition for the alarming figures and failures.

Almost irrespective of the type of crime they are involved in, it is hard to understand just what can bring the country's youth to be where they are today. Youths and children are joining gangs at increasingly alarming rates, and the average age is continuing to drop; gun crimes are more frequently being committed by under 18's, and more and more youths are using and selling drugs at much higher rates than the rest of Europe.

Many of those ending up committing and promoting crime suffer a lack of education. Be it at home, amongst friends, at school or university, the values we place on society and ourselves, as well as our role within these structures has a lot to do with how and what we are taught, and the methods through which we learn them.

While London may be one of the hardest cities in the world to break free from the socio-economic demographic you were born into (i.e. children born in to poor families are most likely to be poor when they are older, and vice-versa for the rich), the education system within normal society and also in the UK prisons seems to be failing Britain's young.

Most recently, figures reported that literacy and numeracy levels in prisons here were at their lowest ever, a culmination of a steady many years of decline. And the story is the same on the outside.

Unfortunately for many of the UK's young, their struggle within an education system that is falling short of its essential targets, offers them little hope for a successful future,

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