While knife crime has received widespread attention for many years, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed in 2025 that police-recorded offences involving knives or sharp objectives have increased by 81% over the past 10 years.
In response to the alarming rise in youth knife violence, StreetDoctors partnered with marketing agency Saatchi & Saatchi to launch a powerful new campaign, The Fatal Question.
The Fatal Question challenges the deadly myth that a person can be stabbed without causing serious or fatal harm. We confront this misconception head-on, so young people know the real, irreversible consequences of knife violence.
The Fatal Question campaign turns the question back to young people to find out what they really think.
Teenagers from London schools were invited to engage with a life-sized, interactive human sculpture, pointing to areas of the body where they believed a stab wound would not be fatal – revealing the widespread misconceptions at the heart of the campaign.
Once a body part has been guessed, the statue emits a beam of light which triggers projections of the real-life stories of victims, accompanied by personal accounts from their loved ones, detailing the sobering stories of young people killed by a single stab wound to that area of the body.
The personal stories include high-profile cases such as 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, killed by a single stab to the thigh; Joshua Ribera, a Birmingham-based rapper killed by a single stab wound to his heart; and 12-year-old Ava White, who lost her life to a single stab wound in 2021.
With support from global creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, our mission is to reach as many young people across the UK as possible with this lifesaving knowledge.
With your help, we will be educating young people face to face in schools, youth clubs, and prisons thanks to our movement of over 250 young healthcare volunteers in 20 cities across the UK.
StreetDoctors volunteers help young people understand the physical and psychological consequences of youth violence, and train them in emergency first aid so they can save the life of someone who has been stabbed and become leaders within their communities
We know youth violence incidents can happen. But if you have the skills, knowledge and confidence, you could save a life...
Find out how you can support The Fatal Question campaign and help us reach more and more young people to equip them with the skills, knowledge and confidence to become life savers in their communities.
Our StreetDoctors Save Lives E-Learning Course provides innovative digital training for young people – where ever they are.
StreetDoctors Save Lives E-Learning Course delivers app-based peer-to-peer learning for self-directed or small groups, and focused training in secure and semi-secure locations.
Complementing our face-to-face training, the E-Learning App ensures we can have maximum impact with those with the greatest need.
We offer a range of programmes for young people affected by violence.
Each programme is delivered by our movement of young healthcare professionals; training young people in the physical and pyschological consequences of violence.
Our award winning Reducing Violence Programme is our most popular and regularly booked sessions. The programme is made up of independent training sessions which can be booked as a programme or as one-off sessions, depending of the needs of the young people.
Find out more about the campaign development and our work with Saatchi x Saatchi.
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