Knife crime in Bristol has been described as a scourge.

In 2023, there were an average of stabbings and stabbings per week. Two teenagers were jailed Friday for the murder of 16-year-old Darrian Williams.

Some of those involved in the postcode-driven “gangs” behind the violence say they are now looking for a way out.

“I feel like I can’t get what I want because you can’t leave that life. There are people who might want to target me,” said an anonymous individual who was on the fringes of a gang a few years ago.

“Now I just work and stay out of the way, I want to move out of Bristol, it’s that bad.”

The person we spoke to said they were too afraid to give their name or take their picture for fear of retribution.

A few years earlier they had been involved with other young men in what was labeled a “gang” where exploitation and serious violence were common.

Bristol has had a number of high-profile murder cases of young men, with references to rivalries between the city’s different postcodes.

The last of these was the murder of 16-year-old Darrian Williams, described as a “happy and go lucky” teenager.

Two boys, both 16 years old, He was found guilty of murder on Friday.

While the court heard no evidence that Darrian belonged to a gang, witnesses heard the young defendants asked Darrian if he was a “1-6” before stabbing him in the back.

The “1-6” gang is associated with the Bristol BS postcode areas of Fishponds, Hillfields and Oldbury Court. The court heard how they clashed with another gang called the “2-4s” or “2s”, linked to St Pauls and St Judes.

There have been other serious cases of youth violence in Bristol with fatal consequences, such as 18-year-old Dontae Davis, who was stabbed to death by a rival gang member in 2021.

His family said he was “strong, loving, caring, attractive” and “a thoughtful son”.

Kairon Sawyers, 19, denied murder, claiming he acted in self-defence, but was sentenced to nine years in a young offenders institute after being found guilty of manslaughter.

It was heard at this hearing that gang tension was increasing east Bristol was guilty.

However, in the midst of the violence, there are also those in the city looking for a solution.

Desmond Brown, founder of Growing Futures, an organization that deals with young people involved in serious youth violence, said he had heard of young men leaving Bristol seeking unconventional routes.

“We had young people here signing up to be trafficked so they could get out of Bristol because of fear of being stabbed,” he said.

“These are the limits we cross every day to do our daily work, and they think they can’t do it either (in the city).

“Traveling by bus is a scary proposition,” he added.

• If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can visit: BBC Action Line.

Mr Brown said the word “gang” was too strong a term for what was going on in the city and had unfair racial connotations, given that those involved were often vulnerable young boys and girls who were exploited.

“We’re not talking about organized criminals, we’re talking about young people who go astray, not in school, who get involved in serious youth violence that’s really inexplicable,” he said.

Mr Brown said many young men turned to crime for basic things such as money for food.

He also said that young people feel that they are not protected by anyone, including the police, and that they have to create their own environment where they are protected.

“It’s about loss of hope and loss of opportunity. They stick together to protect each other,” he said.

“They’re trying to find opportunities with each other in a world that doesn’t offer that to them. These are the cracks that our young people fall into.”

“It’s become a death cult where young people need to be involved and protect a space they don’t have.”

Mr. Brown said a big part of the problem was that the city was losing spaces where young people could have positive activities and experiences.

“What has changed is that we are seeing an increase in these behaviors and serious youth violence across all ethnicities,” he added.

Mr Brown said social media had “ignited” tensions between groups as young people watched rap videos containing violent language that appealed to other areas.

Courtney Young, outreach manager at Empire Fighting Chance, a gym that works with disadvantaged youth that Darrian attended, agrees.

He said the problems often start with music videos on the Internet and then spread to the streets.

“We are seeing more and more young people being killed on our streets,” he said.

Mr Young said he had heard stories of young people unrelated to any crime being threatened by groups because they knew someone who identified themselves as aged 1-6 or 2-4.

He said many young people said there were obstacles in traveling to and from different areas due to fear of being caught.

“This is a great city and we should be able to move around freely in it,” he added.

Describing Darrian, who first joined the gym in 2020, as “wonderful and engaging”, Mr Young said the 16-year-old’s death was “gut-wrenching”.

“It has fitted in really well. It has had a huge ripple effect not only on us but on the whole community.

“We need to come together as a city, organizations like us and others need to work together,” he said.

Dr D., senior lecturer in criminology at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol. Craig Johnston said there needed to be safe spaces where adults could build real relationships with at-risk youth.

The formation of groups in certain postcodes is directly linked to the disadvantaged situation of the area, he said.

“There is a connection between these levels of poverty, disadvantage and emerging groups and bonding and being together,” he said.

“Zip codes have a sense of loyalty, a sense of ownership of your community, a sense of belonging to that community is quite strong.”

Dr Johnston said he thought “gangs” would be too strong a term for 1-6s and 2-4s because they were “less organised” than what we traditionally think of as gangs.

Mr Brown said police were trying to understand what was going on but arresting the teenagers was not the answer.

“We are in an impasse, we cannot force our way out of this situation,” he said.

Mr Brown said having multiple agencies working together was the right approach but it wasn’t currently working because of “massive gaps”.

“It can’t just be the police collecting these young people, it should be the council, it should be youth services,” he said.

Like Dr Johnston, Mr Brown agrees that creating safe spaces for young people could be the solution.

“We’re losing spaces where young people can be in these busy times and hot spots, where they can talk to a trusted adult who can direct them to the opportunity they really want,” he said.

“None of them want to get involved, they feel like they’re being hung out to dry.”