From the BBC today:

London violent crime could take ‘a generation’ to solve

5 hours ago

It could take a generation to solve London’s violent crime problem, the city’s mayor has warned.

Two teenage boys and two men have been stabbed to death in the city in the last five days, including 15-year-old Jay Hughes.

Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC’s Today programme to “really make significant progress can take up to 10 years”. …

There have been 118 homicides in the capital this year, including 73 stabbings and 12 shootings, compared to 116 for the whole of last year. …

In September, a London Violence Reduction Unit was set up mirroring the approach taken in Glasgow, where violence is treated as a public health issue and “a disease infecting communities”. …

The mayor said children as young as primary school age are now carrying knives and warned it could take “a generation” to solve the problem.

He added: “They saw in Scotland what we’re seeing in London which is children in primary school thinking not only is it OK to carry a knife, but it gives them a sense of belonging, joining a criminal gang, it makes them feel safer. …

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics released in April showed that knife crime rose by 22% in England and Wales in 2017.

… “Unfortunately this is something you can’t turn around particularly quickly,” he added.

“It’s something that has to last longer than a mayoral term, longer than a government term. This is something that has to have a ten, twenty-year strategy.”