A new Netflix show, ‘Adolescence’ is illustrating Britain’s knife crime pandemic that has taken over among young boys around the ages of 11 to 18.
Knife crimes have become disturbingly common in the UK during the past few years with South Yorkshire becoming the fourth highest region in the country for knife crime offences;, with five people being murdered by a bladed article in 2024.
Sheffield saw the highest volume of knife crime related incidents in South Yorkshire; the wards of Burngreave, Darnall, Firth Park, Beauchief and Greenhill, Barnsley Central, Boston Castle, Manor Castle and Netheredge and Sharrow making up the top 10.
This is a four episode series, which focuses on the story of the boy that is accused instead of the victim, as said by co-creator and lead actor Stephen Graham, “We wanted to put a mirror up to society and just say take a little look and see what’s going on.”.
Jack Thorne, writer of the series said, “What we’re trying to understand is how boys grow into toxic presences. How boys become people that are capable of violence.”
Explaining the problems highlighted by the series of what parents are facing nowadays with the presence of social media and manosphere becoming more common in today’s young boys, specially an issue that is becoming specifically relevant in Sheffield recently.
Sheffield saw the introduction of the Knives Take Lives Campaign on January 25, a campaign organised by DC Thomas Ryan, a detective constable in South Yorkshires Major Crime Unit, who after seeing the constant repetition of knife crimes decided that something had to be done and took a stand.
Deputy Chief Constable Sarah Poolman when explaining the Campaign said, Knives Take Lives aims to reach out to those vulnerable to picking up a knife in the first place and showing them the alternatives and consequences that this could lead to, similar to the series.
She said, “Fewer knives on our streets reduces the risk of another local family grieving the loss of a loved one, and another young person destroying their own future and ending up behind bars.”
However, Counsellor Mike Levey still thinks we could do more, saying in this years Council Budget Meeting the importance of having an anti-knife campaign based on Sheffield.
He said, “We have to start an anti-knife campaign across the city”.
