Marta Cooper (London, oD): 90 murders have occurred in London this year, 23 victims of which have been teenagers. It seems not a day passes without news of another fatality reaching us. But is knife crime really on the increase, or is this just what we're being led to believe by excessive media hype? Conflicting statistics make this a difficult question to answer: in mid-July the British Crime Survey claimed overall knife crime fell by 25% between 2006 and 2008. But the Department of Health reported 14,000 people treated for stab wounds in 2007, showing an increase of 20% since 2006; whilst there was a reported 72% rise in prosecutions of those possessing knives since Labour came to power in 1997.

Whichever set of statistics you believe, it is clear that the media hype around the issue is not helping - a view shared by youth workers and children at Dalgarno Community Centre in north Kensington, whom I interviewed about stop and search policy this month. "Media hype causes young people hype," as one worker said. "We are made to believe that everyone is carrying a knife and we will get killed if we don't carry one," added the Youth Area Worker. A reduced media focus on knife crime would, therefore, help to solve the issue.

The Government's response, meanwhile, has been draconian and will likely prove counter-productive.