The Hoorn stabbing incident in which a 14-year-old boy was stabbed by a 16-year-old suspect last week is not an isolated incident. According to police reports, there have been more than 50 stabbings involving teenagers this year. This is more than anything last year.
Gun ownership among young people is also increasing, sees president Bianca Boender of the professional association for children and youth workers BVjong.
“Not all young people who have a gun use it,” he points out. “But from 2019 you can see that gun ownership among young people has increased, that there have been stabbings and that they have become more extreme.”
There have been more than 50 stabbings this year for which the teenagers were held responsible. The youngest suspect was thirteen. He allegedly stabbed a fellow student in Rotterdam.
Nine people were killed in the stabbings. Except for Hoorn’s boy who died of his injuries on Sunday, people died in stabbings in Middelburg, Amsterdam, Horst, Rosmalen, Breda, Vlaardingen, Vlissingen and Nijmegen.
During 2021, according to police, teenagers were involved in nearly 50 stabbings, three of which were fatal.
From feeling insecure to peer pressure
There can be several reasons why young people decide to carry a knife or other edged weapon. This can range from feeling insecure to peer pressure.
“Young people are looking for their identity. They copy others and are impressionable,” says Boender.
“Positive role models have a positive influence. If you are in a group of friends where it is normal to carry a knife, you can be sucked into that culture and into a spiral of fear and violence.”
Drillrap, an aggressive and intimidating form of rap, is rarely the cause of knife violence, according to the researchers.
