Headlines featuring tragic stories of teenage deaths or serious injuries due to knives have once again put Scotland on the map in terms of violence. Such stories were commonplace in Scotland around 20 years ago, when Scotland was identified as one of the most violent countries in the western world and Glasgow was branded the ‘murder capital of Europe’.

Over the last two decades, however, levels of youth crime have fallen dramatically and there is evidence to show that this has been a primary driver in reducing the overall rate of violence. While the recent headlines are very worrying, it is worth considering this in a longer-term historical context: since the turn of the century, the number of homicides and crimes involving attempted murder or serious assaults fell by around half, and crimes involving the use of an offensive weapon fell by around sixty percent.

So, in relative terms, such crimes are far less common than they were in Scotland’s past. That will, however, be cold comfort to the families of those who have been the victim of such terrible crimes.

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As the spotlight falls, once again, on ‘problematic youth’ serious questions have been raised about how to deal with them. Immediate responses have inevitably turned to justice-based measures, such as increased use of police stop and search and harsher punishment for offenders to deter others. Other suggestions have included removing free bus passes and neighbourhood curfews.

Evidence around the effectiveness of such measures is, however, severely lacking. Research has shown........

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