Young people have a new and unusual TikTok challenge to get their teeth into during lockdown.
The #NoKnivesChallenge encourages young people to take their breakfast routine to a whole new level. The challenge is to butter a slice of toast with anything but a knife.
The No Knives Better Lives (NKBL) campaign is all about getting people to think about knife carrying, we may be in lockdown but the issue of knife crime has not gone away.
NKBL exists to reduce the incidence of knife carrying amongst young people by raising awareness of the potentially devastating risks and consequences associated with carrying a knife and promoting positive life choices. NKBL is a primary prevention, national initiative that is delivered at a local level across Scotland.
The TikTok ‘Butter your Toast’ challenge will run for a month and will be hosted on the YouthLink Scotland TikTok account (@YouthLinkScotland). Young people who create a #NoKnivesChallenge video will be in with a chance of winning a £50 Amazon voucher.
Emily Beever, National Co-ordinator for NKBL at YouthLink Scotland said: “Knife crime has significantly reduced in Scotland since 2009 but it is still crucial to talk to young people about knife carrying.
“Peer influence plays a significant role in preventing knife crime. The #NoKnivesChallenge uses humour to encourage young people to have a conversation with their friends and say, ‘Carrying a knife isn’t ok. Ever!’ We are excited to see the weird and wacky things young people are going to butter their toast with.”
Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We have seen knife crime in Scotland fall drastically over the last decade and No Knives Better Lives has played a crucial role in this.
“We know however that there is still much more we can all do to reduce this further. The #NoKnivesChallenge will encourage young people from all over Scotland to highlight and talk about the consequences of carrying knife.
“I am looking forward to seeing what creative ideas everyone comes up with during this challenge.”
Young People and Knife Crime in Scotland
At its inception in 2009, No Knives, Better Lives was a response to the very high incidence of knife crime in Scotland and the corresponding high numbers of young people charged with handling an offensive weapon. This position has changed dramatically over the last decade.
Between 2008-09 and 2018-19, the number of violent crimes recorded by the police in Scotland has nearly halved (falling by 48%), while recorded crimes of handling an offensive weapon (where not used to commit another offence) have fallen by 53%.
The number of young people, under the age of 18, convicted of handling an offensive weapon has fallen by 83% (from 456 in 2008-09 to 80 in 2018-19).
The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey also shows a 48% fall between 2008-9 and 2018-19 in Violent Crime experienced by adults in Scotland, and that 11% of adults thought that people carrying knives was common in their area in 2018-19, down from 22% in 2009-10.
The general trend has been a large reduction in violent crime and weapons possession over the last decade. No Knives Better Lives attracted a lot of positive publicity for playing its part in helping to make Scotland a safer place for young people.
Over the ten-year period from 2008-09 to 2018-19, the number of crimes of handling an offensive weapon (where not used to commit another offence) recorded by the police in Glasgow City decreased by 65%.
About NKBL
No Knives, Better Lives (NKBL) is a national programme designed to deter young people from using and carrying a knife. It is a youth-work focused initiative supported by Scottish Government delivered by YouthLink Scotland in collaboration with local partners.
The aim of the initiative is to reduce the incidence of knife carrying amongst young people by raising awareness of the potentially devastating risks and consequences associated with carrying a knife and promoting positive life choices. NKBL is a primary prevention, national initiative that is delivered at a local level.
Since 2014 all Local Authorities have been able to access support from NKBL.
NKBL – How does it work?
There are two main strands to our prevention work with young people:
- Working with partners in individual local authority areas in Scotland to support a strategic capacity building approach to prevention and to reach and train 100s of practitioners every year, who in turn deliver prevention work with tens of thousands of young people every year.
- Communicating prevention messages to young people through social media and innovative engagement programmes
