Young people with knives: spiral violent in schools is increasing!

Young people with knives: spiral violent in schools is increasing!

Berlin-Spandau, Deutschland - In Berlin-Spandau, a violent incident at a primary school has drawn public attention to the increase in violence among young people. On Thursday morning, a 13-year-old student injured a 12-year-old life-threatening a 12-year-old during a knife attack. This is not the first incident of this kind in the recent past; In Remscheid, too, an 11-year-old student stabbed a 13-year-old, which further increases the concern about the willingness to use violence among children and adolescents.

The trend towards violent clashes among young people is alarming. According to the Berlin police President Barbara Slovik, the number of acts of violence among children increases significantly. Professor Thomas Bliesener from the Criminological Research Institute in Lower Saxony has determined an increase in violent crime in children under the age of 14 by around 11 percent compared to the previous year, while an increase of almost 4 percent in adolescents under the age of 18 has been recorded. The increase in these attacks has become particularly worrying since corona pandemic.

The role model of the youth

The changes in dealing with violence are not equally pronounced in all social classes. Children used to carry simple things like matches or a pocket knife, but today many boys often have a smartphone and sometimes a jumping knife. This development is influenced by various factors, including a strongly grown youth culture with influences from baller games, violent videos and music styles such as gangsta rap. Media violence plays a crucial role, since according to the JIM study, violent content is consumed by many young people. Boys in particular are affected by this consumption, which can be expressed in an increase in aggressive behavior.

The difficulties for parents to deal with the challenges of digital communication are another problem. Child and adolescent psychiatrists Prof. Marc Allroggen emphasizes that experiences of violence in the family environment and the role of role models can significantly contribute to aggressive development. The brutalization in dealing between young people could also be related to the displacement of empathy and normalization of violence.

prevention and social responsibility

The Berlin Youth emergency service offers help for young people around the clock in crisis situations to prevent violence against violence. At the same time, Bliesener emphasizes that parents have to be better informed about the dangers of knives. In addition, many experts call for preventive measures in schools to inform young people about the risks of knife wearing. The social responsibility to make access to violent media and to promote the critical examination of these content is becoming more and more urgent.

Another concern of concern is that knives are not only perceived as weapons, but increasingly also as status symbols among young people. Although the number of students who carry a knife with them has remained the same, the reason for driving has changed - many indicate to do this to their own defense.

For further information about the increase in violence among children and adolescents, we recommend the articles from Tagesspiegel and bpb .