It will take a generation to end Britain’s knife crime epidemic, warns brother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence
- Stuart Lawrence, 42, warned that teenagers have become ‘numbed’ to violence
- This is through social media, with Mr Lawrence calling on internet giants to act
- Mr Lawrence brother Stephen, 18, was stabbed to death London, in April 1993
- Mr Lawrence criticised social media for helping fuel an escalation in knife crime
The brother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has said he fears Britain’s knife crime epidemic will ‘take a whole generation’ to fix.
Stuart Lawrence, 42, warned that teenagers have become ‘numbed’ to violence through graphic social media, music videos and computer games and called on internet companies to act.
Mr Lawrence – whose 18-year-old brother was stabbed to death in an unprovoked racist attack in Eltham, south-east London, in April 1993 – spoke out at a summit to tackle gang violence.
Stuart Lawrence (pictured), 42, warned that teenagers have become ‘numbed’ to violence through graphic social media, music videos and computer games and called on internet companies to act
The married father, who works as a motivational speaker, criticised social media for helping to fuel an escalation in knife crime, which has soared by 80 per cent in five years in England and Wales.
Mr Lawrence said: ‘When Stephen was killed, it was a racist attack by a group of people who didn’t like another group. It was clearly definable.
Mr Lawrence’s 18-year-old brother Stephen (pictured) was stabbed to death in an unprovoked racist attack in Eltham
‘Now, it seems that all you have to do is accidentally brush someone on the street, or on the train, and that person takes issue and wants to attack you.’
He added: ‘Kids are carrying knives because they’re scared of being made to look like idiots on social media. The landscape has changed since Stephen and it is far more complex.’
Mr Lawrence called on social media firms and web giants to crack down, adding: ‘Social media companies need to do a lot more taking down stuff that’s inappropriate.
‘It’s going to take a whole generation to revert what we have done. We need to go back to what we know works. To have places for young people to go, to have other young people supporting [them].’
He also revealed his concerns for his son, Theo, eight, who he has yet to tell of his uncle’s murder.
‘When is the right time to burst his bubble that not everyone is nice?’ he said. Mr Lawrence was a guest at the Community Initiative To Reduce Violence summit this month.