NCJ Number
236922
Date Published
November 2011
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This report describes the features of the United Kingdom's first "cross-government" collaboration among multiple government agencies in countering gang and youth violence in five areas: prevention, pathways out, punishment, partnership-working, and providing support.
Abstract
The Government has already initiated a number of far-reaching reforms designed to address the entrenched educational and social failure that can fuel the formation of gangs and violent behavior. Welfare reforms will provide youth with more opportunities to access work and overcome barriers to employment. Reforms in education will improve student performance and increase participation in further study and employment. The new Localism Bill will provide local areas the power to take action and pool their resources through Community Budgets. The police and other criminal justice agencies need the support and powers to protect communities impacted by gangs; however, gangs and violence cannot be countered by law enforcement alone. Only by encouraging every government agency to use its distinctive resources to address some aspects of the causes of and remedies for youth gangs and violence can progress be made in improving the lives of youth and the residents of communities in which they live.