Collaboration needed for the safety of Scotland’s children and young people – by Fiona Dyer

Recent events in relation to knife crime have been tragic and need to be addressed, but we must be careful that we do not create a moral panic.

Research tells us there are many reasons why children may feel the need to carry knives, including fear, peer pressure, exploitation, unresolved trauma and systemic inequalities including poverty and discrimination.

So, what collectively can we do?

We need to speak to children and young people and ask them how we can support them, and work with them to find out what’s the best way of preventing violence.  Most importantly for us at CYCJ, what do they need from professionals and from their local communities?

We know from evidence that punitive responses do not work to deter knife carrying and only take us further away from embedding a rights-based approach. We need to take a more restorative, child centred approach to how we respond to children and young people. That will be more effective in helping them.  Education awareness is great if children are at school, but what we hear is that many children are not at school. Either excluded officially or unofficially, or choosing not to attend, children not at school have the same right to prevention awareness through education as those who are attending.  So, what we need to do is ensure that youth work services are in local communities and that they are supported to respond to and advise children and young people about the risks of carrying a knife.

Research shows that children and young people’s brains are not fully developed until they reach their mid-20s. And as adults, we need to be able to support them. We need to help children to think about the consequences – to understand that they’re not invincible – and to give them alternative ways to build self-esteem.

We need to make sure that we have spaces for children so that they can be together in a safe environment and have fun, as is their right.  Children and young people tell us that they have nothing to do. There is nowhere to go. Many of the youth work services have not reopened since before the COVID pandemic.  Children and young people need these spaces to go to, and the youth workers there. Where adequate youth work provision does still exist, this is often at risk of further cuts.

The Independent Antisocial Behaviour Working Group heard a lot about violence and many professionals believed it was due to lack of resources, youth work and joined up working – with too many organisations working in silos.  The Antisocial Behaviour Group reported that:

“Continued disinvestment in youth services at a local and national level has significantly contributed to antisocial behaviour in Scotland by removing critical support systems and positive outlets for young people. Safe and welcoming spaces where young people can have fun, make connections, learn social skills, receive guidance, and engage in constructive activities have been deprioritised over several years from a funding/resource perspective at a local and national level. As part of our engagement with youth sector practitioners, we heard repeatedly about boredom, lack of affordable/accessible things to do, frustration, and isolation felt by young people which can lead to engagement in antisocial actions”.

The 2011 ‘Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services’ (‘Christie Commission’) similarly highlighted the need to reprioritise ‘prevention’ in the delivery of public services.

This analysis from 2019 Interventions to reduce knife crime | College of Policing

“the best available evidence suggests the most effective approaches tend to be multi-faceted and involve prevention at the earliest opportunity and multi-agency collaborative working”

At CYCJ, after listening to children and young people, we are calling for a more preventative approach: safe spaces to meet; better support for youth work, educational approaches, measures to avoid overcriminalisation, restorative justice, and more joined up working.  This is why we will always collaborate for rights-respecting justice: to ensure that partners can collectively create an environment for children and young people to grow up in safety, and not in fear.