Knife crime initiative aims for expansion into youth custody

Former Association of Youth Offending Team Managers chair Gareth Jones, who has been announced as the new chair of StreetDoctors, told CYP Now that the charity is in talks with the Youth Justice Board (YJB) to expand its work with young offenders in custody.

Jones said he is hopeful this could lead to StreetDoctors, which was set up in Liverpool in 2008 by medical students in reaction to a rise in knife crime, having a presence in all youth custody facilities.

"I've already had preliminary discussions with the YJB, who are interested. Certainly as one of my ambitions as chair I would like to see it available to all secure settings that need it. Any secure establishment by definition will have the young people in our target group," said Jones.

"We don't want a scattergun approach. We could go into every school in the country but what we are really after is those young people who are more likely to be involved in knife crime."

StreetDoctors runs sessions across the UK on the medical consequences of violence and offering support at the scene of a medical emergency, including knowing how to help someone who is bleeding or unconscious.

A third of the 141 partners it has worked with over the last 12 months are youth offending teams or secure settings, with the rest including pupil referral units, colleges with a high average rate of violence, charities and youth centres. 

So far this year it has taught 2,176 young people across 365 sessions, delivered by 350 volunteer medial students and junior doctors.

The charity has recorded 12 cases of young people acting in a medical emergency following a StreetDoctors session.

"One young person, who had been a young offender and went through the StreetDoctors programme, saved his uncle, who was having a cardiac arrest. He performed CPR successfully because he understood what was going on and the importance of keeping calm," added Jones.

"Those that take part benefit as it grows their sense of empathy. That helps in terms of self-esteem as well as considering their actions and the effect on others, which are important elements of restorative justice."

Jones, who heads the Cheshire West, Halton and Warrington Youth Offending Service, has replaced Peter Lewis as StreetDoctors chair.