“I want to move out of the city because of knife crime”

Knife crime in Bristol has been described as a scourge.

In 2023, there was an average of one knife and stabbing incident per week. Two teenagers were jailed Friday for the murder of 16-year-old Darrian Williams.

Some of those caught up in the zip code-controlled “gangs” behind the violence now say they are looking for a way out.

“I feel like I won't achieve what I want because you can't leave this life. There are people who might want to target me,” said an anonymous person who was on the fringes of a gang a few years ago.

“I just work now and stay out of the way. I want to move out of Bristol, it’s so bad.”

The person we spoke to said she was too afraid to be named or pictured for fear of retaliation.

A few years ago they were with other young men who are often labeled as a “gang” – where exploitation and serious violence are commonplace.

Bristol has seen several high-profile murder trials of young men, focusing on rivalries between different postcodes in the city.

The most recent case was the murder of 16-year-old Darrian Williams, who was described as a “troubled” teenager.

There were two boys, both 16 years old was found guilty of murder on Friday.

While the court heard no evidence that Darrian belonged to a gang, witnesses heard the teenage defendants ask Darrian if he was a “1-6” before stabbing him in the back.

The '1-6' group is linked to the Fishponds, Hillfields and Oldbury Court postcode areas in Bristol BS. The court heard how they had come into conflict with another gang, the “2-4s” or “2s”, linked to St Pauls and St Judes.

There have been other cases of serious youth violence with fatal consequences in Bristol, such as the case of 18-year-old Dontae Davis, who was stabbed and killed by a rival gang member in 2021.

His family said he was “strong, loving, caring, charming” and a “thoughtful son”.

Kairon Sawyers, 19, denied murder and claimed he acted in self-defense, but was sentenced to nine years in a young offenders' institution after being found guilty of manslaughter.

In this process, gang tensions increased East Bristol was to blame.

But amid the violence, some in the city are looking for solutions.

Desmond Brown, founder of Growing Futures – an organization that works with young people involved in serious youth violence – said he had heard from young boys looking for unusual routes out of Bristol.

“We had young people who actually signed up for human trafficking so they could leave Bristol for fear of being stabbed here,” he said.

“Boundaries [in the city] that we cross every day to go about our daily business that they feel they are unable to do.

“Traveling by bus is a scary thing,” he added.

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Mr Brown said the word “gang” was too strong a term for what was going on in the city and had an unfair racist connotation as those involved were often vulnerable young boys and girls who were being exploited .

“We are not talking about organized criminals, we are talking about young people who are being misled, out of school, who are involved in serious youth violence that is truly inexplicable,” he said.

Mr Brown said many young men turn to crime over basic things like money for food.

He also said that young people do not feel protected by anyone, including the police, and feel forced to create their own environment where they do.

“It’s about the loss of hope and the loss of opportunity. They band together to protect each other,” he said.

“They’re trying to find opportunities together in a world that doesn’t offer that to them. These are the cracks our young people fall through.”

“It has become a death cult where young people have to become visible to get involved and protect an area that doesn’t belong to them.”

Mr Brown said a big part of the problem was that the city had lost spaces where young people could have positive activities and experiences.

“What has changed is that we are seeing an increase in this behavior and serious youth violence across all ethnicities,” he added.

Mr Brown said social media was “inflaming” tensions between groups as teenagers watched rap videos containing violent language that denounced other areas.

Courtney Young, community outreach manager at Empire Fighting Chance, a gym that works with disadvantaged youth and who visited Darrian, agrees.

He said problems often start online with music videos that then spill out onto the streets.

“Younger and younger people are being murdered on our streets,” he said.

Mr Young said he had heard stories of young people who were not involved in crime being threatened by groups because they knew someone who identified as 1-6 or 2-4 years old.

He said many young people face barriers to traveling to and from different areas due to fear of being caught.

“It’s a great city and we should be able to move around freely in it,” he added.

Mr Young described Darrian, who first visited the gym in 2020, as “amazing and dedicated” and said the 16-year-old's death was “shocking”.

“He has fitted in really well. It had a huge impact, not just on us, but on the entire community.”

“We need to stick together as a city, organizations like ours and others need to work together,” he said.

Dr. Craig Johnston, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of West of England (UWE) in Bristol, said there needed to be safe spaces where adults could build authentic relationships with vulnerable young people.

He said the formation of the groups in certain postcodes was directly linked to the area's disadvantage.

“There is a connection between this level of poverty, disadvantage and the formation of groups, bonding and coexistence,” he said.

“The zip codes have a sense of loyalty, a sense of caring for your community, belonging to that community is pretty powerful.”

Dr. Johnston said he believes “gangs” is too strong a term for 1-6 and 2-4 year olds because they are “less organized” than what we traditionally think of as gangs.

Mr Brown said police were trying to understand what was happening but arresting young people was not a solution.

“We are at an impasse, we cannot prevail,” he said.

Mr Brown said multi-agency collaboration was the right approach but was not currently working due to “massive gaps”.

“It can’t just be the police, it has to be the council, it has to be the youth services that pick up these young people,” he said.

Like Dr. Johnston also agrees with Mr Brown that building safe spaces for young people could be the answer.

“We are losing spaces where we can have young people at peak times and in hot spots – where they can talk to a trusted adult who can guide them to the opportunity they really want,” he said.

“None of them want to get involved, they feel like they’re being let down.”