For instance, the prevalence of youth violence, and particularly knife crime, on our streets has hit the headlines. The liberal press has tried to dismiss this concern merely as the product of media hype. But the fears are not ill-founded. Though figures for violent crime have fallen, it has been mainly due to a halving of domestic violence. What the broad statistics hide is an increase in ‘stranger’ violence, up 14% since 1997. In London 26 teenagers were murdered in 2007 and 16 have already been murdered this year. The mother of teenager Arsema Dawit stabbed to death in a lift in her block of flats in June said, ‘I came to this country from Eritrea to live in safety. When my daughter was threatened I went to the police seeking protection. Sadly, this did not happen’.