'Knife crime capital' pushes Birmingham VR company to show young people risky situations
Cornerstone VR in Birmingham has developed a new series of VR films aimed at tackling and raising awareness of the issue.
With statistics showing that the West Midlands has become the UK’s ‘knife crime capital', an award-winning Birmingham-based company has developed a new series of VR films aimed at tackling and raising awareness of this increasingly growing issue.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the West Midlands has had higher knife crime rates than London for four years running. Meanwhile, the Ben Kinsella Trust found that one in 20 children aged 12 or over has carried a knife while out in public.
In response to the figures - both regionally and beyond - Cornerstone VR’s latest series of immersive, trauma-informed films aims to change the narrative around knife crime and raise awareness of why children and young people may feel compelled to pick up a knife in the first place.
Based on feedback from partners across the public and private sectors, the Cornerstone VR team learned that young people are “intimidated” and “frightened” on the streets and how this fear can lead to them becoming criminalised.
Shalene Lemmie, VR Service Manager at Cornerstone VR, said: “Knife crime is on the rise and it is impacting all children and young people. We’ve found that this issue isn’t as simple as ‘don't carry a knife’. Young people are under so much pressure nowadays and social media and smartphones mean it’s constant.
“We’re talking about adolescent brains that aren’t fully developed yet being driven by fear and anxiety - there’s no off-switch. It’s understandable why young people want to feel secure - what we need to do is make sure they’re fully aware of the consequences of their actions.”
To develop the new content, Cornerstone VR worked closely with its partners and other professionals including police officers, social workers, foster agencies, educational institutions and, most importantly, children and young people who are - or could be - impacted by knife crime.
Using Cornerstone’s innovative 360 degree virtual reality, the films cover a number of scenarios, from being the victim of a robbery and being threatened with a knife; a stop and search; being booked into custody and the experience of being in a custody cell; and a serious knife related incident at a party.
VR is an experiential learning solution, which allows users to become fully immersed, instilling feelings of fear, a sense of unease, as well as the shame, confusion and anger that can arise in these scenarios.
The films have been designed to be used by professionals to enhance their empathy and understanding of what it’s really like for children in these situations, empowering them to provide better support to the children and young people in their care and guide them towards safer choices, reducing the risk of harm to themselves and others.
Cornerstone VR also collaborated with Birmingham-based production company Popcorn&Co. to shoot the films in locations both within the local area and across the UK.
Abby Cooke, VR Service Manager at Cornerstone VR, said: “We wanted to create new content to help people understand what young people are experiencing and what might lead them to carry a knife. Some of the films focus on the anxiety and even the adrenaline during an altercation and then end with how frightening it can be to get arrested or be in a custody cell; how quickly a child can find themselves in a scary, adult world.”
Cornerstone VR is dedicated to driving impactful change through its flagship virtual reality (VR) programme, empowering professionals to deliver enhanced care and support to individuals of all ages.
The programme's immersive experiences are designed to foster empathy and understanding of early-life trauma, such as abuse and neglect, covering key topics such as child exploitation, social media and the digital world, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).