Inquiry over impact of sport on cutting youth crime launches
Joe Lepper
Thursday, November 17, 2022
An inquiry is launching to examine the impact of sport and physical activity on reducing youth crime and anti-social behaviour.
Think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), along with funder the Nick Maughan Foundation, has opened a call for evidence to hear from sports clubs, youth centres, charities, and councils on how vulnerable young people at risk of crime are being helped through sport.
A CSJ survey has found that nine out of 10 parents believe such activities are important to cutting crime and anti-social behaviour.
But the think tank cites evidence from the YMCA showing a 74 per cent real term fall in council spending on youth services since 2010.
Eight out of 10 parents believe these cuts have led to an increase in crime and only a third of parents believe young people have enough opportunities to be involved in sport in their local area “to keep them busy and out of trouble”, according to the CSJ’s survey.
“Sport offers a compelling hook through which to engage some of our vulnerable young people, offering positive pathways back into education, employment or training”, said CSJ senior researcher Sabrina Hummel.
She praised the work of charities such as Boxwise, which runs boxing programmes in the UK and worldwide aimed at disadvantaged young people
At each of the charity’s sessions young people taking part are provided with fresh meals, she added.
"89% of parents believe that sport is an important way to reduce youth violence and adjust antisocial behavior" @SabrinaMHummel
— The Centre for Social Justice (@csjthinktank) November 14, 2022
If you work with young people supporting them to move away from crime through sports please participate in our research below👇https://t.co/XEKZ65UbX7 pic.twitter.com/utx6cV2QCg
Further evidence to emerge from CSJ’s survey has revealed that almost six in 10 parents have experienced youth anti-social behaviour in their area and more than two in five have been involved in such incidents in the last 12 months.
A similar proportion say their child has been the victim of anti-social behaviour, with harassment the most common form of incident.
In addition, young people from lower income household are twice as likely to be the victim of an assault compared to their more affluent peers.
London is particularly impacted, with eight in 10 parents concerned about youth crime, added the CSJ’s survey.
The deadline for submissions of evidence is January 15 2023.
