Enforcement or Desistance:
Harnessing local energy to deal with
gangs and youth crime
Welcome!
Aims of the day:
• Understand what EUGANGS project is and
aims to achieve
• Understand better the nature of and
response to youth crime in our communities
• Explore strategies for closer police-agencycommunity co-operation in finding solutions
to youth crime
EUGANGS PROJECT
• Develops a level 3 course and qualification
specifically for people working with and living
with gangs and youth crime
• Covers:
• Interpersonal communication
• Safe working
• Policy
• Social factors
• Social psychology
EU-wide
Current issues in UK
• Lack of understanding / skills
• Youths entering gangs at younger age
• Drives not satisfied by other means than joining
gang
• Labelling / stigma
• Challenge the glamour
• Focus shift away from punishment, towards
prevention and consider the whole
• Listen to kids as individuals
Current issues
‘More needs to be offered in the form of
training programmes for work, opportunities in
the community for social interaction between
different groups’
‘Facilitate the thirst for knowledge rather than
dictate what has to be taught to fulfil an exam
question that will never be used again.’
EUGANGS & Co-construction
Co-construction
THEORY /
EVIDENCE /
TRAINER
EXPERTISE
Greater understanding
Solutions
Desistance and EUGANGS
• Dr Martin Glynn (BCU)
Since desistance is about discovering agency,
interventions need to encourage and respect selfdetermination; this means working with offenders
not on them (McCulloch 2005; McNeill 2006).
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•
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Desistance and social factors
Desistance and psychology
Desistance and safe working
Desistance and interpersonal communication
Desistance and policy / the law
Joe Jackson
Wolverhampton Citizens 4 Change
My journey!
Two perspectives
• Beginnings of a youth crime issue in Walsall
• Rise of serious gang crime in Wolverhampton
The nature of the issue
• In your tables discuss the following:
• What is the nature of the problems described
here?
• What solutions would you suggest?
• Is there an example in your group of a
strategy that has worked particularly well in
similar situations?
Plugging into the matrix
https://youtu.be/uAXtO5dMqEI
EUGANGS – Taster sessions
Taster sessions
1 – Colin Isham – Emotional Intelligence – HB103
2 – Amanda Wood – Supportive Action – HB201
3 – Keith Blackburn – Mentoring – HB 210
4 – Joseph Jackson – Social Factors – HB211
Plenary
Joseph Jackson
So what have we learned?
• Let’s revisit the issues and solutions we
described in the keynote session
• In the light of what you have learned in your
taster sessions is there anything we can add
about
• the nature of the problems we and our
young people face?
• how we can work better to address these
problems?
EUGANGS – Where next?
Colin Isham
Where we are now
• 8 trainers trained
• Pilot course face-to-face and online completes
in December
• Opportunities for piloting online materials and
face-to-face sessions in the spring
• Need to reach strategic links / decision makers /
budget holders!
• Main courses at Walsall College and UCB from
September 2016
Thank you and follow us
• www.eugangs.eu
• Facebook – Eugangs Project
• Twitter - @EUGANGSproject
• Look at online course on GOAL
• A report on today’s event will follow