City in Crisis: Liverpool’s escalating gun and knife crime
The death of Olivia Pratt-Korbel in August left a community bereft of a girl who had hopes and dreams as any other 9-year-old would. In the same week, a woman was found with a fatal stab wound just five miles away in Kirkby, and a few days later a council worker was shot dead in what is presumed to be an instance of mistaken identity. The recent arrest and charge of Thomas Cashman for Olivia’s murder, whilst having brought accountability, has not given closure to the community of Liverpool where the all-pervasive violence has left further questions and anxieties. These deaths are not isolated incidents; they are connected to the generational violence that has impacted Liverpool. The recent tragedies only scrapes the surface of the impact and escalations of gun and knife crime in Liverpool. To understand why this keeps occurring and how to prevent tragic and unnecessary deaths, we must understand the underlying causes.
‘Smack City’ – Post-industrial Liverpool
Liverpool is a city that has been marked by violence on its streets and within it communities for years. Increasingly so in the last century, when its docks became redundant and obsolete due to the rise of containerisation. As a result, Liverpool’s unemployment rate quickly became the highest in the UK. Faced with deprivation, an explosion in organised crime and heroin abuse took over the city – leading to its branding as ‘Smack City’ by the media. The 20th century would be marked by tensions that began to tear apart communities; the 1981 Toxteth Riots followed in the steps of the Brixton Riots in the same year as tensions between the police and the Black community unfolded onto its streets. Olivia Pratt-Korbel died on the anniversary of the death of Rhys Milford Jones, an 11-year-old boy murdered by a member of the Croxteth Crew gang in August 2007.
Liverpool’s history is not only a history marked by violence but also by neglect, with the Northern cities greatly forsaken by the Conservative government. The 1980s saw a period of social unrest in the North as industry powerhouses fell into disuse, which gave way to opportunities for organised crime to create an alternative economy. Whilst Liverpool has since improved its image and economy due to substantial investment in tourism and regeneration schemes, violence still grips the city.
What is driving this increasing violence in Liverpool?
Historically, statistics show that the majority of organised crime is carried out by men, in particular young men and boys. As people we are presented with social expectations and norms that must be adhered to as, otherwise, we will be seen as failures. In 1993, James W. Messerschmidt coined the term ‘hegemonic masculinity’, to define the characteristics that ‘real men’ are supposed to have according to the normative masculine value system. Within this system men are expected to be providers and protectors of their families and communities. Much like Robert Morton’s theory on social deprivation, marginalised men will find illegitimate means to achieve this status if they’re unable to do so within the system. Where social and economic deprivation occurs, an alternative appears. Organised crime is an opportunity for both financial and masculine status. Communities hit by deprivation not only impact the financial fabric but also the social fabric.
What have police and local councils been saying?
The Merseyside police have stated “they will leave no stone unturned” and that they will take action against “organised crime groups that have blighted the lives of decent law-abiding members of the community.” There has been a significant increase in support and aid for the Merseyside Police force from across the UK in supplying firearms and more on the ground officers. Much of their action has been to disrupt and tackle the organised crime groups across the area. In a recent operation, Chief Superintendent Mark Wiggins has stated that they are committed to making the communities of Merseyside a “hostile environment for criminals to operate in.”
However, as history shows, increased police presence and the militarisation of police forces creates further tension and clashes within the community. It creates a perpetual cycle of violence that drives young people towards crime and distrust of the police. Whilst these anti-gang operations reactively tackle these issues in the community it fails to provide sustainable, long-term change and impact – it does not tackle the root cause of these issues.
What needs to be done to prevent these tragedies from occurring?
It is evident that reactive police action and response is not an effective solution to tackling organised crime. Community projects and prevention is needed to tackle the deprivation that has affected these communities. These issues are driving the violence in Liverpool. However, if there needs to be change there must be an effective and efficient leadership that can act and implement necessary policies. In August 2022, it was recommended by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for the Liverpool City Council to be taken over by the Government as reports suggested failings. An ineffective council means that deprivation cannot be resolved.
Header image credit: Wikipedia
