“I don’t know where I would be if that didn’t encourage me to get out of it.” Te consequences of Scotland’s violence is
felt across the board – and for medical staff the dire results of knife crime are a daily occurrence. In 2008 the group Medics Against Violence was established to bring a new approach. One of the group’s key initiatives involves sending specialists from a range of hospital disciplines, including A&E, intensive care and neurosurgery, into secondary schools to discuss the harsh realities of fighting in the streets. Christine Goodall, an oral surgeon and
group founding member, said: “Healthcare workers see the outcomes of these attacks every day. We see how they can ruin lives, not only of the victims, but of their families and friends.” Michael Murray, an anaesthetist at the
Southern General Hospital in Glasgow and member of MAV, said: “It almost seems as the older you get, the worse it becomes because you look at another life and think this person, for example, is going to have a huge scar down his face for the rest of his life. How will this impact his life in the future? “Having children of your own, you can’t help but think this could be my son coming in. “I think one of the biggest problems in society is there can be a dismissive attitude, the thought that ‘well, it’s just another ned’. “Are we saying it’s OK for people to go out in the street and be mutilated? “People, and I mean everyone in society,
have to acknowledge this is not normal behaviour by any means and I think each recurring episode is almost more tragic. “Te trouble for most people in Scotland I
think is we tend to see violence as something that happens, ‘someone’s had a bevy so what do you expect?’” Alcohol is an invariable factor behind much of the violence on Scottish streets. Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini, head of the
prosecution service, said: “What I see now, in many cases, is both the accused and indeed victims purchasing very substantial quantities of very cheap alcohol. “It is consumed on a night out in quantities
which, quite frankly, are fatal.” She added: “It is a major health issue for the
young people but from my own very narrow perspective, in terms of crime, there is a real apocalypse if we don’t actually get to grips with the acceleration of the consumption of alcohol.” William agrees that alcohol is a significant
factor in many cases of violence. “I’ve never used a knife without being under
the influence of something, the two people I stabbed, I can’t remember it,” he said.
28 March 2011 Holyrood 15
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