Southend on Sea Youth Council launch anti-knife crime campaign: Jan 2022

Southend on Sea youth council have launched an anti-knife campaign with a knife prevention video “Lives Over Knives” at the heart of its campaign messaging.

Funded by the VVU, the film is the centrepiece of the Youth Council’s knife crime prevention campaign which has been in planning since winter 2019.

The campaign was motivated by the 33% of young people in Southend who, in the 2019 UK Youth Parliament’s Make Your Mark ballot, voted issues surrounding knife crime and related gang crime and safety issues to be the most pressing issues they face in the local community.

The Youth Council held an exclusive screening of ‘Lives Over Knives’ in December. At this screening they spoke about the issues of knife crime, its effects on young adults, their involvement in the campaign, and why they feel this campaign is needed locally.

The Youth Council are now hoping that local schools and organisations will support the campaign by watching and sharing the video and associated resources.

The campaign which has been designed by young people for young people, is designed to show the devastating, life changing effects of carrying a knife.

The campaign is now live on social media, with the video and a list of organisations that provide support for the issue available on the Lives Over Knives web pages. The short film that was created as part of the campaign can be viewed on YouTube.