Ask young people for help to find the solutions to serious youth violence

The Issue

We stand with young people in calling on the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Chief to always put young people first in the mission to find solutions to serious youth violence.

Latest official figures show "high harm" violent crime is on the rise, with the number of young people affected increasing by 17 per cent in London since 2015. No one disputes that this increase must stop. But in the search for solutions, what's missing is the involvement of the young people who have been affected.

The full, genuine involvement of young people is a vital part of tackling the ongoing rise in serious youth violence. Young people with experience of this issue directly understand the long-term causes. It is time that as a society we really listen to them and trust them to be able to contribute to a way forward. Time and again the evidence shows that this process leads to real and lasting change.

We the undersigned call on you, the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Chief to:

Insist that every summit, discussion and event about youth violence includes young people with experience of this issue.
Advocate for strategies that tackle youth violence to meaningfully include and represent young people with experience of this issue.
Support young people to co-produce any related media and social media campaigns, with full involvement throughout the process to ensure they are relevant.
Make a commitment to fully involve young people with experience of this issue in the development of policy making and service design and delivery.
Commit to being held to account on the above pledges by young people with experience of this issue.

And that the Mayor of London:

Appoints a Deputy Young Mayor for Youth Crime to bring a different perspective and insight to all solutions, decisions and plans for addressing youth violence in London, and to hold these bodies to account.

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This petition had 559 supporters

The Issue

We the undersigned call on you, the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London and the Metropolitan Police Chief to:

Insist that every summit, discussion and event about youth violence includes young people with experience of this issue.
Advocate for strategies that tackle youth violence to meaningfully include and represent young people with experience of this issue.
Support young people to co-produce any related media and social media campaigns, with full involvement throughout the process to ensure they are relevant.
Make a commitment to fully involve young people with experience of this issue in the development of policy making and service design and delivery.
Commit to being held to account on the above pledges by young people with experience of this issue.

And that the Mayor of London:

Appoints a Deputy Young Mayor for Youth Crime to bring a different perspective and insight to all solutions, decisions and plans for addressing youth violence in London, and to hold these bodies to account.

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This petition had 559 supporters

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The Decision Makers

Sadiq Khan,

Mayor of London

Responded

“Dear Petitioner, Thank you for the petition submitted on the change.org website advocating consulting young people to find solutions to serious violence. The Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) would like to reassure you that the Mayor is committed to consulting young people about serious violence. The findings from over 700 16 to 24-year-olds who were surveyed in a Talk London survey were considered in the development of the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan and young people were consulted and surveyed to inform the commitments in the Mayor’s Knife Crime Strategy. Please find a link to the strategy here: www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/mopac_knife_crime_strategy_june_2017.pdf. MOPAC hosted specific events to engage young people, including a youth roundtable event, workshops with young offenders in HMP Isis prison, and those on community orders under the supervision of youth offending teams, in addition to a Big Talk event with young people. 400 young people were surveyed in the areas most affected by knife crime in London. A Stop and Search group for young people holds the Metropolitan Police Service to account about stop and search practice in Hackney. The young people in the group undertook four days’ training to support their work and used this to produce a DVD called ‘Search Me’ which is used to help train officers and members of the community in stop and search good practice. The trained young people are also tasked with planning community events called “Build Up” which is aimed at improving dialogue between young people and the police. Events have included football matches, role play and sports days with local officers. In light of feedback received from young people about the lack of awareness of the consequences of knife crime, MOPAC asked the Sentencing Council to consider the role that they could play in raising awareness among young people regarding the consequences of knife crime, and what further consultation could take place with young people regarding sentencing guidelines in the future. Young people also helped develop the content of the LondonNeedsYouAlive #LNYA campaign. This media campaign, launched on 15 November last year, is targeted towards young people raising awareness of the dangers and consequences of knife crime; and providing reassurance and advice on what they can do if they have concerns about an individual’s involvement or risk of involvement in knife crime. For more details, please visit the City Hall website at: www.london.gov.uk/london-needs-you-alive. A toolkit for schools, community groups and others to make use of the campaign can be accessed here: www.london.gov.uk/lnya-toolkit. The Mayor’s Knife Crime Action Plan commits to establishing an ongoing youth engagement and consultation mechanism, ensuring young people continue to be consulted and involved in the delivery of the Knife Crime Strategy. Peer Outreach Workers (POWs) are a group of young people from across the capital that help influence the Mayor's policies. The POWs are made up of 30 young Londoners aged 15 to 25-years-old from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. They are commissioned by the Mayor to engage, inspire and gather the opinions of other young people in the capital. Their work helps shape the policies, strategies and services. POWs emphasise to decision-makers the importance of involving children and young people in policies and strategies including tackling youth crime. POWs attended and contributed to the Mayor’s recent Knife Crime Summit in June this year. Young people have also been involved in scoring the bids for the Mayor’s £45m Young Londoners Fund which opened for applications in May 2018. The Mayor created the fund to help London’s children and young adults make the most of our amazing city. It will help children and young people to fulfil their potential, particularly those at risk of getting caught up in crime and it will support a range of education, sport, cultural and other activities for children and young people. The 3-year fund will see £30m made available for projects in local communities. The remaining £15m will be invested to expand existing projects funded by City Hall that support young Londoners. More information about the Young Londoners Fund can be found here: www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/education-and-youth/young-londoners/mayors-young-londoners-fund. Additionally, all London Crime Prevention Fund bids that work with young people are asked to ensure that young people are involved in co-design and feedback into the service. I hope that this provides some reassurance that the Mayor is committed to asking young people about solutions to serious violence in London and making London an even better and safer place for all. Yours sincerely, Public Liaison Unit Greater London Authority”

Sadiq Khan

Mayor of London

Responded

Rt Hon Sajid Javid (Home Secretary)

Cressida Dick (Metropolitan Police Chief)

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Petition created on 26 July 2018