Adelaide criminologists say young men are arming themselves with knives thinking others are too

YOUNG South Australian men are increasingly arming themselves with knives because they assume others in their neighbourhood are doing the same, leading criminologists say.

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YOUNG South Australian men are increasingly arming themselves with knives because they assume others in their neighbourhoods are doing the same, leading criminologists say.

Experts say males under the age of 25 in lower socio-economic areas are most likely to use knives as weapons because they feel unsafe in their community, lack dispute resolution skills and believe weapons are “cool”.

They say greater education on resolving conflict, and more employment and recreation opportunities, would help reduce knife crime.

It comes as police continue their investigations into three unrelated stabbing attacks in Adelaide’s northern suburbs on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving one man dead and two injured.

A woman also died last week after she was stabbed at Gilberton.

Flinders University Professor of Criminology Andrew Goldsmith said men under 25 in disadvantaged areas were more inclined to carry knives.

Alexander Watts was fatally stabbed outside the Elizabeth shopping centre on Thursday night. Picture: Facebook

“In areas where there are youth gangs or some degree of social stress, people are more likely to feel anxious and frightened (and) ... in certain sectors ... the need to protect yourself against being ripped off, against being attacked, against having your drugs stolen from you leads to people arming themselves,” he said.

“There’s kind of a shared perception ... that other people are carrying (knives) and therefore it’s necessary for self-defence.”

Prof Goldsmith said people used knives because they were the easiest weapons to obtain.

“There’s a kind of gangster culture that is going on in these youth communities where carrying weapons is cool,” he said.

UniSA Law Professor Rick Sarre, who is also the president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, agreed with Prof Goldsmith’s sentiments but also said schools were failing to teach students adequate conflict resolution skills.

“We have failed ... to not inculcate into young people that there are really good ways of resolving disputes that don’t involve pulling out a knife and stabbing people,” he said.

Police at the scene where Alexander Watts was fatally stabbed. Picture: Tom Huntley

“Surely in our schools we should be spending more time talking about conflict resolution. It’s a failing of our education system in the last generation.”

An Education Department spokesman said: “Schools actively work with children, students and families to teach and reinforce appropriate behaviours.”

Opposition deputy leader Vickie Chapman said authorities should focus more on combating knife crime.

“I would say stop concentrating on cranking up laws on firearms (and) understand this is a weapon of choice,” she said.

A Government spokeswoman said SA had “some of the toughest laws in Australia regarding the use of knives and other offensive weapons”.

“The Government recently passed declared public precinct legislation, allowing police to conduct metal detector searches in declared precincts,” she said.

The SA Police 2015/16 annual report revealed prohibited weapons/explosives offences increased by more than 23 per cent compared to 2014/15.

However, the report does not specify how much of the increase was driven by knife crime.