Holding our own
A new (25 April 2023) guide published by a coalition of nine organisations calls for a new approach to tackling serious youth violence, with the powers of the police rolled back and more funding and support given for young people to thrive.
The report, authored by organisations working across human rights, youth services, racial justice, mental health and policing, ‘Holding Our Own: A guide to non-policing solutions to serious youth violence’ provides a blueprint for how we can undo the harm currently being done to our communities, and instead build a society where all children are given the chance to thrive.
The groups that contributed to Holding Our Own are:
- Northern Police Monitoring Project
- Release
- No More Exclusions
- National Survivor User Network
- INQUEST
- Kids of Colour
- Art Against Knives
- JENGbA
- Maslaha
Policing is not the answer
The report argues that we all deserve to grow up in communities where we are cared for and given the tools we need to flourish in life. It says that instead of investing in young people or providing support to deal with the causes of social problems, the government has given the police more powers to try and tackle the symptoms of these issues. This has led to more and more people being treated unfairly by the police, rather than being given the help they need.
The report argues that our communities need investment, so that together we can create spaces and services that we know will give our young people the best chance in life.
And says we need to roll back the powers of the police so no-one faces harsh and traumatising treatment at the hands of police.
The nine organisations all contribute a chapter to the report, some of them co-produced with young people, and cover a wide range of issues including:
- Young people from minoritised communities lived experiences of policing
- School exclusions and policing in schools
- Joint Enterprise convictions
- Drugs as a driver of disproportionate policing of Black and Minority Ethnic Communities
- Stop and Search
- Reimagining youth work
Demands
The report makes a number of immediate and medium term demands. It asks for immediate action to:
- End school exclusions and remove police from schools
- End drugs policing
- Dismantle harmful practices in traditional mental health systems
- End cuts to youth services
- End the practice of joint enterprise
- End the practice of pre-crime policing
- Make the Inquest system more truthful, just and accountable
The report also asks for longer term change, in particular to:
- Build an emancipatory education system based on care and support, not discipline and punishment
- Decriminalise all drugs and reinvest resources in trauma services, mental health counselling and harm reduction services
- Build new structures of care and support for people experiencing mental health crises
- Invest in safe, healing-centred and racially literate spaces for young people
- Develop community-based solutions to harm that allow young people’s friendships, communities and cultures to flourish
- Invest in and mobilise the expertise and knowledge of our communities to create holistic public services
- Move away from policing as a response to social problems
Thanks to Mohamed Benkada for kind permission to use the header image and to Talen de St. Croix for the image in the middle of in this post, both of which were was previously published on Unsplash.
