Katherine Hamnett design costs £30 (+p&p)
After speaking to knife-victim Ben Kinsella’s sister Brooke, Grazia magazine launched their Lives not Knives campaign.
They will offer a range of exclusive T-shirts to raise awareness and money for the Ben Kinsella Fund.
Grazia’s demands:
1. Serious sentences for weapon possession
The maximum jail term for knife possession has recently doubled to four years, but why in 2006 did only a sixth of offenders receive custodial sentences? We need serious sentencing to be a real deterrent.
2. Engagement with young people
Teenagers in London aged 17-20 are statistically the most likely to fall victim to knife crime, so kids must be taught the true horrors of knives from a young age. Parents and teachers need to talk openly and honestly about peer pressure to carry knives and convey the true consequences of doing so. And the police must build better relationships with local schools, revealing the real-life tragedies of knife crime.
3. Prosecute shopkeepers for selling knives to children
Serious penalties must be handed out to anyone found selling knives to children – undercover investigations have discovered a reported one in three shops doing so.
4. Police to be properly equipped to detect knives
Instead of large metal arches that are easy to avoid, police must be given discreet hand-held devices.
5. Break the cycle of poverty and crime
The Government must commit serious investment to community projects, after-school clubs and mentoring schemes dedicated to providing new opportunities – whether sporting, social or cultural – to disadvantaged children from an early age.
You can pledge your support for the Lives not Knives campaign by signing Grazia's online petition here which will be delivered to the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
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