Youth violence response based on race, class and gender stereotypes, young people say

A report by youth leadership charity Reclaim based on discussions held with young people in Manchester before the first Covid-19 lockdown in March, states that any “aims to tackle serious youth violence will fail if it doesn’t involve the young people it affects”.

• Analysis: Easing disproportionality in youth custody

• Analysis: Tackling race 'bias' in youth justice

The research, funded by Manchester Community Safety Partnership, Young Manchester and the Co-op Foundation, found that Manchester’s young people felt media attention and the response to violent crime nationally and locally focused too much on the symptoms rather than underlying causes.

It adds that: “Young people told us that they see the response to violent crime as superficial, stigmatising and too often based on race, class or gender-related stereotypes rather than their lived reality. 

“Responses to violent crime too often paint young people as ‘the problem’ to be fixed and feed fear and foster distrust between young people and professionals.”

One young person told Reclaim: “I have been stopped and searched for no reason. I think it was because of the race card. It is like the police have something over you. But at the same time we need the police.”

The report concludes that overall, young people felt there was an understanding and empathy gap between them and those working on this issue that needed to be bridged.

They highlighted key areas they believe should be addressed in a bid to tackle youth violence, including: 

• High levels of school exclusions.

• Low trust in the police due to their experiences of excessive and humiliating use of stop and search, especially on young people of colour, and the use of police community support officers (PCSOs) in schools.

• The lack of youth services, both in general and especially for those facing issues like grooming or violence at home. 

• The lack of routes for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into good jobs in the city.  

Young people surveyed as part of the research called for policies to tackle knife crime including “knife awareness campaigns that only serve to increase young people’s fear or having PCSOs in schools” to be replaced by positive interventions including an increase in youth services.

They also recommended recruiting commissioners, policymakers and service providers that reflect Manchester’s diversity as well as introducing de-escalation training for young people.

“Manchester should pioneer the use of initiatives that bring professionals – like the police and teachers – together with young people to unpick why there is an understanding gap between them,” young people said.