The number of teenagers killed violently in the UK has fallen by 30% in one year, BBC research has found.

The BBC teen homicide database, which records murder and manslaughter cases, shows fifty one 10 to 19-year olds lost their lives in 2009 compared with 72 in 2008.

Most 2009 victims were male and half of all those killed were stabbed. Twelve were beaten and two were shot.

Police say anti-knife crime tactics explain the drop, but critics argue it is too early to make such conclusions.

The BBC News website’s database shows that of the fifty one young people killed so far this year, the youngest was just 10 years old and the oldest 19. The most common ages of victims were 17 and 18.

Most of the victims were white and male – just nine of the fifty one were girls.

While England saw the vast majority of cases, Scotland had eight, Wales three and Northern Ireland two. Of all cities, London had most deaths – with 13 of its teenage residents losing their lives to violence. However, this is a significant drop from 26 in 2007 and 29 in 2008.

Source: BBC

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of 16 to 24-year-olds now out of work was 952,000 in the three months to October, a quarterly rise of 6,000 and the highest figure since records began in 1992.

Unemployment among 18 to 24-year-olds was 757,000, up by 26,000 from the three months to July, the highest since 1993.

Total unemployment increased by 21,000 to 2.49 million, the highest level since early 1995, although the quarterly rise was the smallest for 18 months.

Other data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the number of people out of work in the latest quarter increased by 49,000 to 620,000, the worst total since 1997.

The UK’s overall unemployment rate has now reached a 13-year high of 7.9 per cent and more than one in five working-age people are now economically inactive.

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth

Lessons in using the Internet safely are set to become a compulsory part of the curriculum for primary schoolchildren in England from 2011.

The lessons are one element of a new government strategy being unveiled called “Click Clever, Click Safe”.

Children will also be encouraged to follow an online “Green Cross Code” and block and report inappropriate content.

The measures have been drawn up by the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, a new body comprising 140 organisations.

The “Zip it, Block it, Flag it” campaign is intended for use by schools, retailers and social networks, although it will be up to individual sites to choose how they use it. The campaign intends to encourage children to not give out personal information on the web, block unwanted messages on social networks and report any inappropriate behaviour to the appropriate bodies, which may include the website, teachers or even police.

Speaking ahead of the internet strategy launch, Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said the code would “provide a handy tool for children and parents to give them the confidence to know how to protect themselves online”.

To find out more about on and offline security see this great article – Security for your PC & Online Activities.

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth

Ministers have thrown their support behind plans to involve children from the age of seven in a “national service” scheme aimed at helping recession-hit communities by giving young people the skills to avoid youth unemployment.

The ideas will be advanced this week by the influential Demos thinktank, which will call for a lifelong service scheme that it says would instil the values of active citizenship from primary school age onwards.

Under the plans, university students would have to complete 100 hours of compulsory civic service over three years. Those aged 18 to 24 would be entitled to means-tested grants and subsidised loans, similar to those on offer to university students, to take part in full-time service schemes to help society.

Jobseekers aged 18-24 would be able to claim jobseeker allowance while carrying out civic service as part of back-to-work training, while employers would have to allow employees to do one week’s service a year.

For children, the social action projects could take place during or outside school hours. A science class might – as part of learning about pollution and the environment – go down to a local river, measure pollution levels, undertake a clean-up, monitor pollution levels for the rest of the year and put in proposals to local government to keep the river clean.

Article source: The Guardian

Chris, Web Designer at Input Youth