Monday 30 June

2008 has seen a staggering number of teenage gang and knife attacks on Britain's streets with a death toll comparable to that of our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dr Tunje Lasoye, Head of Accident and Emergency in London's Kings College Hospital, believes this surge in extreme violence is nothing short of a health emergency. In this edition of Dispatches , part of the Disarming Britain season which examines the effect of gun and knife crime on Britain's streets, he meets police officers battling against the rising tide of violence, and the victims - both the injured and those left behind by their murdered friends and family. And offering the insiders view, gang members, past and present, describe what drew them into carrying weapons.