As knife crime on the streets of our cities reaches crisis levels, it has also sparked a crisis of accountability.

Politicians on both sides of the House have rushed to find other culprits. In citing the impact of school exclusions, London Mayor Sadiq Khan - conveniently - laid the blame within the realm of education, one area where City Hall is not closely involved. The Prime Minister and her team, meanwhile, continue to insist that cuts to frontline policing have played little role in the escalation of violence. To misquote Mandy Rice-Davies - well they would, wouldn’t they?

Depending on your own politics, you might blame anything from cuts to local services or good old fashioned bad parenting. Thursday’s Guardian cartoon drew a direct, causal link between knife crime and austerity in an image depicting three teenagers standing outside a boarded up youth club, a Grim Reaper at their side. A rather more powerful picture would have juxtaposed this scene with another young person - alive, having stayed at home to finish their homework.

It is no coincidence that this culture of continual buck passing has been accompanied by a more subtle development - attempts to pathologise crime. Public health language has crept into the lexicon. The knife crime wave is frequently described as an “epidemic”, thought to be “spreading amongst young people”.