Latest news with #LibPeck
BBC News
18-06-2025
- BBC News
Serious crime involving children increases in London, report finds
An increasing proportion of children aged between 10 and 14 years old are suspected of committing violent crime in London, in comparison to other young people, a report has to Met Police figures, 7,512 children aged between 10 and 14 were suspected of violent crime, including knife offences, in 2023, a rise of 38% from this is below the 2019 figure, the report highlighted that those aged 10-14 made up a higher percentage of serious offences involving young people in 2023, compared to Peck, director of London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), which commissioned the study, described the findings as "disturbing". The VRU was set up by London mayor Sadiq Khan in 2019 to try to tackle the underlying causes of study, put together by crime and justice specialists Crest Advisory, analysed data between 2019 and 2023 to examine the impact and background of crime in London, and provide recommendations on how to respond to it. The figures show that serious offences affecting under 25-year-olds initially fell during the pandemic, but increased in the years 2019, there were 56,734 serious offences involving those aged 24 and under, falling to 37,616 in 2021 and rising to 41,147 by in 2019, children aged 10-14 were involved in 15.9% of those offences, this had risen to 18.3% in comparison, for those aged 15-18 the proportion fell from 47.8% in 2019 to 43.5% in 2023, and for 19-25s it rose from 36.3% to 38.3% in the same time period. Ms Peck said the report highlighted the importance of the VRU's work aimed at tackling school absences and exclusions, which were found to be key risk factors in children becoming involved in study said the number of permanent exclusions in inner London had fallen over five years, while increasing nationally, but the number of suspensions had increased across both inner and outer London. It also said that young people with special educational needs were disproportionately represented in the youth justice 2023, the VRU launched a three year, £3m project involving 70 primary schools across seven boroughs, offering targeted support to improve children's language and communication skills. "It really directly helps support young people to address things like conflict by using words not fists," Ms Peck said. Manda George, head teacher of Torridon primary in Catford, south-east London, said her school had used the funding to expand its support for children with speech language and communication needs through oracy lessons, as well as teaching children about relationships and conflict resolution. She said teachers were still seeing the impact of the pandemic, which has left an increasing number of young children struggling with language skills."We can see straight away in nursery if a child needs something extra in terms of language and communication, and similarly a child with being able to talk about their emotions, or how they're feeling, as opposed to hitting out or lashing out."Now in the second year of the programme, Ms George said the school had seen a huge improvement in behaviour. "If children are able to resolve that conflict before they get angry, before they get upset, then it doesn't escalate to a point where we are having to intervene with things like suspensions and exclusions." Sai Satyadeva, Torridon primary school's inclusion leader, said it was easy for children to become "lost or labelled" in secondary school and then disengage. She said since the expansion of the oracy programme pupils were "better able to advocate for themselves" and were showing improvements in their behaviour and forming better relationships with their peers. When we visited the school, some of the older children were discussing a book they'd been reading, using a technique called Rally Robin, which Ms Satyadeva explained encouraged them to take turns, without one person dominating the children picked up from each other using phrases such as "I would like to build on" or "I would like to challenge" the ideas put forward by their classmates. Ten-year-old Ashton said it gave them the ability to disagree with each other "but not in a rude way. We don't say, you're not correct, or shout out". He told me his friends now used a similar technique in the playground to decide which games to play."If one person says how they feel, then the other person says how they feel, then you can figure out a way to resolve the argument," added his classmate, Madison, aged 10. Eleven-year-old Isla said she liked this as it helped her to "see the other people's point of view"."If you're in a large disagreement, we don't want it to get really physical" explained 10-year-old Ethan. "We talk about our feelings." Ms Peck insisted the results within the schools the VRU had been working with had been "remarkable". "Ninety-six percent of young people who have got involved in these type of lessons narrowed the gap between their peers, and 81% narrowed it by more then 50%," she it will be some time before it's possible to evaluate whether such a programme can help lower the number of young people being stabbed on London's streets. The report points out that, as the VRU was only created five years ago, it is difficult to measure how successful its public health approach has been, while the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic had made it "difficult to see key trends in crime data". "I think we do have to acknowledge that last year, for the first time, we had the lowest level of murders for under 25 [year olds] for 23 years," Ms Peck said, when asked about the figures in the she added that it "doesn't breed any complacency."It's something Londoners are concerned about, absolutely rightly so, and we see far too may young people get caught up in violence." The report also recommended that the VRU should commission research into the exposure of children to online harm, including social media, as well as harmful relationships with peers and follows the release of hit Netflix series Adolescence earlier this year which sparked a national conversation about the impact of social media on young people."It's important that we understand what is going on the virtual space and how that relates to physical violence," said Ms Peck. The Metropolitan Police commissioner has repeatedly warned that knife crime could rise in London without more funding from the government, although following last week's Spending Review, the chancellor said she was confident that pledges on cutting crime and increasing police numbers can be kept."Everybody wants to feel safer," Ms Peck said, when asked if she was concerned about Sir Mark Rowley's comments. "What we need to be doing is really investing in that prevention that stops young people getting engaged [in crime] and being exploited in the first place." But won't some people be sceptical about the link between funding oracy programmes for young children and preventing a young teenager from picking up a knife? "I can appreciate that," said Ms Peck, "but it's entirely logical. We know the safest place for children is in school."One of the key factors of a young person being excluded, or being suspended, is very often because they're unable to articulate themselves very well, and that turns into bad behaviour." Head teacher Manda George told me she can "absolutely" see the link between supporting speech and language skills for very young children and preventing older ones becoming involved in violence. "The earlier we can support children the better. By the time they're in secondary school it's too late."
The Guardian
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Youth workers in London custody centres stop 90% reoffending, says report
A scheme aiming to turn children arrested for violence away from crime has claimed staggering success, with up to nine out of 10 diverted from further offending, a new report says. Under the scheme, which is funded by London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), special youth workers are placed in police custody centres across the capital. The VRU claims the overwhelming majority of 10- to 17-year-olds do not reoffend within 12 months of release from custody. Lib Peck, the director of the London VRU, said the £40m-a-year cost of the unit, which runs a range of initiatives, is more than made up for by the money saved from the cost of reoffending. She said prevention works and deserves more money, adding: 'Society and government have focused a lot more on policing and enforcement than they have on prevention.' A report to mark London VRU's first five years of operating says the cost of youth violence in London alone is £1bn a year, including the cost to the police, courts system, health and victim services. VRUs sprung up across the UK amid a growing concern over knife crime. London's unit is the biggest, with the capital also suffering the highest rate of knife crime. The report details what drives violent crime and how a public health approach can help reduce it. The scheme includes support based at hospital emergency departments aimed to stop retaliation from victims of violence, as well as services in police custody suites that have tried to help 800 children. The report says: 'Monitoring data shows that nearly three-quarters of young people in hospital following a stabbing or violent incident reduced their risk of harm after the intervention from a youth worker. 'And last year, data reported by our projects showed that almost 90 percent of teenagers arrested for violent offences did not reoffend over the next 12 months following intervention and help from a youth worker based in the busiest police stations in London.' The scheme is showing signs of being able to exploit the 'teachable moment', long talked about by police and youth workers. It is the point where someone is wavering between continuing as a criminal or turning their back on violence. Michael Gosling, one of the London youth workers based in police custody, said he tries to earn childrens' trust and tells them not to discuss their crimes with him, with most wanting to talk about what led to them being under arrest. 'Going into custody can be quite scary,' he said. 'I try to appeal to them by using body language. I tell them I am there for them, I am not there to judge them. 'We are not wearing the get up of a police officer. I make it clear I am not a police officer.' Austerity led to a retreat from the streets where gangs driving violence took hold. VRUs and the expansion of youth work they involve, represent an attempt to counter attitudes supporting violence. Gosling said of one case: 'He was a product of his environment.' Some youngsters are driven by needing money to eat, others to buy trainers or just getting money exploiting 'the playground of opportunities', Gosling said. 'Older gang members are looking for younger children who are vulnerable, to recruit them,' he added. Gosling said others see violence as a necessary part of their attempt to make money: 'The thought process is here and now. They are out to get it by any means necessary.' The report says low trust in the Metropolitan police damages the fight against crime: 'Trust and confidence in policing have seen sustained declines over recent years – just 46 percent of Londoners believe the police do a good job in their local area. This is 10 percent below where it was 5 years ago.' One young person mentioned reportedly described their reluctance to report a crime to the police, 'saying they weren't sure if they would be treated as a victim or perpetrator. They described feeling 'powerless''. Peck said: 'I don't think you can get away from the fact that it's a very problematic relationship at times. 'We just see the consequences of it.' The VRU also claims success reducing school exclusions, and says children not in education are more likely to become involved in violence. Peck said: 'Whatever the cost to the taxpayer [of the VRU] we are saving the same or saving more.' Since the VRU started in 2019, homicide rates are down in the capital and its murder rate is now lower than Paris, Toronto, Manchester and Berlin, but higher than Rome and the West Midlands. Other crime types are increasing and London's VRU, largely funded by the mayor, is seen as a long term project for a decade or more. Key factors driving violence remain poverty, deprivation and alienation, with drugs a key factor – 56% of homicides between 2012/13 and 2017/18 in London were drug-related, according to the report. There is also an increase in the proportion of 10- to 14-year-olds suspected of violence.
The Guardian
22-03-2025
- The Guardian
Teenagers excluded from school ‘twice as likely' to commit serious violence
Teenagers who are permanently excluded from school are twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year of their expulsion than those who were merely suspended, a large-scale new analysis of police and education records has shown. London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), set up to tackle the number of teenagers dying as a result of knife crime in the capital, said the new research is the first direct evidence of 'a clear link between children being excluded from school and involvement in violence'. It will lend new weight to calls by youth charities, lawyers and other experts for schools to rein in the soaring numbers of exclusions. Government data released in November last year revealed that there were 4,200 permanent exclusions in the autumn term 2023-24, an increase of more than a third on the same term the year before. The study, published in the British Journal of Criminology by researchers at Hull University and Bristol University, followed more than 20,000 young people who were excluded from secondary school, using their education and police records. They were matched with a second set of 20,000 children chosen because they had the same educational experience, ethnicity and social background, and had been suspended the same number of times but, crucially, were never excluded. The researchers found that within a year the excluded children were more than twice as likely to commit serious violent crime than their peers who were on the same path towards being thrown out but were not excluded. In the excluded group there were 990 serious violence offences and 20 murders or 'near-misses' in the 12 months following the exclusion compared to 500 serious violence offences and fewer than 10 murders in the group which avoided exclusion. Lib Peck, the director of the VRU, said: 'For the first time, this new research provides evidence of what we have long known: there is a clear link between children being excluded from school and involvement in violence.' She added that what struck her most was that the results didn't show young people getting involved in violence some years down the line, 'but in fact almost immediately after having been excluded'. Supporters of firm discipline in education argue that with behaviour problems spiralling since the pandemic, exclusion is an essential tool. Tom Rogers, a history teacher and director of Teachers Talk Radio, said that exclusion was a necessary tool when 'extreme behaviour' threatened teachers as well as pupils. 'There is too much focus on supporting perpetrators rather than victims here,' he said. 'There are 30 children in each class who could be negatively impacted by the instigator of violence, bullying or abuse. These other children need protection.' Peck admitted that some exclusions will always be necessary to keep pupils and teachers safe but said more should be done to support these children to stay in school. Government data shows children on free school meals, black-Caribbean children and those with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are among those significantly more likely to be permanently excluded. Iain Brennan, professor of criminology at Hull, who co-authored the research, said: 'If you are excluded and no longer in well-supervised education, who are you hanging out with during the day? The opportunities for being exploited increase, and how you see yourself is also likely to change.' He added that teachers he spoke to frequently told him that 'the writing was on the wall' long before a child was excluded, with external issues including domestic violence and poverty contributing to worsening behaviour at school. 'If a teacher is managing a class of 30 and has limited resources and time, it's often easier to rely on behaviour policy rather than trying to work out how to include and help that child.' However, he warned that failing to rein in exclusions risked 'letting down the most vulnerable and traumatised children' as well as potentially creating victims of crime and 'heaping pressure on prisons'. Kiran Gill, CEO of The Difference, a charity set up to tackle the social injustice of lost learning, called on the government and schools to 'sit up and take notice' of this new research. She warned that pupil referral units, designed to provide alternative education for children who have been excluded from mainstream school, are having to turn away children across the country because they are already full, and many councils are not meeting the legal requirement to find a place in education for children within six days. 'That means these children are at home, or worse, on the streets,' she said. 'Teachers might think that if they permanently exclude a child they will get more support than they can access in mainstream school, but this research shows that is often not the case.' Gill warned that children were not only more likely to be criminally exploited outside school but also to spend much more time on their phone, where they might be influenced by extreme ideologies. Kate Aubrey-Johnson, a barrister at Garden Court Chambers in London, who co-founded the School Inclusion Project, a group of 200 lawyers offering pro bono support to children facing exclusion, said: 'These statistics are shocking but sadly come as no surprise. Any criminal lawyer knows this to be a stark reality for children.' She added: 'The vast majority of children are excluded from school for relatively low-level disruptive behaviour that too often arises from unmet needs relating to Send.' She said that excluded children typically become isolated and lose self-esteem, making them an easy target for gangs. 'They lose hope that they have a future worth living for.'
