Prioritise youth services to tackle knife crime, government told
Fiona Simpson
Friday, February 14, 2020
Government cuts to “life-saving” youth services, social care and education budgets is a “fundamental cause” of violent crime among young people, a report by the youth select committee says.
The committee, made up of 11 young people aged 11- to 18-years-old, accuses the government of “not listening to young people" affected by violent crime in its Our Generation’s Epidemic: Knife Crime report.
It says a heavy focus on long prison sentences and stop and search will not prevent young people becoming involved in knife crime.
Children are scared into carrying knives due to threats from gangs, the report says, adding that young people “live in a society in which they fear they must take a life or have your life be taken”.
It argues that factors including poverty, inequality and mental health problems are underlying issues which need to be addressed in order to reduce knife crime which is at its highest in a decade in England.
The committee has called on the government to provide a clear plan to tackle these underlying issues that make a young person more vulnerable to getting involved in violent crime.
This should include additional funding for youth services, the report says.
It adds that the government’s recently launched £200m Youth Endowment Fund and a £22m Early Intervention Youth Fund, both 10-year programmes aimed at steering young people away from becoming serious offenders, do not go far enough in providing the long-term security for youth provision.
The report also calls on ministers to:
- Develop long-term funding plans for at least five years to support young people at risk of getting involved in knife crime.
- Ensure that the views of young people and those with lived experience of knife crime is embedded into the serious violence strategy.
- Introduce stricter regulation for school exclusions.
- Roll back the extension of stop-and-search powers until the disproportionate targeting of black men has been addressed.
- Clarify its position on short-term custodial sentences for young people who carry knives.
- Include an increased focus on restorative justice in its next serious violence strategy.
Rachel Ojo, chair of the committee, said: “The youth select committee is concerned with the government’s increasingly punitive approach to tackling knife crime.
“If the government wishes to confront the fundamental causes of the rise in violent crime amongst young people, it must do more to address and improve the difficult circumstances many young people are facing.”
Most recent government figures show that knife crime and offensive weapons offences involving juveniles in England and Wales has reached the highest point since 2009, when 5,554 crimes were recorded. Offences across all ages have also reached a 10-year high, the Ministry of Justice says, with 26,634 recorded in the same year.
