From crime to careers: Children build a brighter future

Two projects are building a brighter future for some of Hampshire’s most at risk children by reducing youth violence through career-building interventions and education.

Get Ready for Construction and Future Directions have changed outcomes, with large reductions in arrests and incidents of going missing from those who have taken part.

The projects are funded by Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones, through her Violence Reduction Unit (VRU).

Get Ready For Construction provides a one-week course, with 62% of those taking part achieving qualifications (most had not been in regular education for at least 2 years), a 38% reduction in arrests and 53% reduction in missing episodes.

Children who frequently go missing are at heightened risk of exploitation, making reductions in this area particularly significant.

One young person who participated said, “This has helped me to come from a dark place to the light again”, while another added: “It gave me a chance to try again at working, my new life is now just beginning.”

Having already run successful courses in Southampton, the next one will be in Portsmouth at the end of September.

Future Directions is a multi-agency project which identifies and directly engages with individuals at high risk of involvement in serious violence and exploitation. Participants saw a 69% reduction in arrests, 61% reduction in serious violence arrests and 60% reduction in missing episodes.

After three months on the programme most of the children were in education or employment.

Donna Jones said: “These findings highlight the urgent need for earlier intervention and stronger partnership working, to prevent young people being drawn into serious violence and knife crime.

“We must continue to find ways to help young people break their connections with those who are linked to their offending.

“No one organisation can do this alone, but when we bring the right organisations together, we can address the symptoms of crime as well as the underlying causes, making our young people and our communities safer.

“This is not a soft approach to crime; it is a smart approach that works and one that is much more cost effective than waiting for serious harm to occur.

“We need to do all we can to support these young people, to get them to stay in education and build pathways to future employment. I will continue to invest in targeted prevention and expand the focussed deterrence model into other areas.”

“Get Ready For Construction” gives 16 and 17-year-old’s from across Hampshire, a realistic route into employment, away from offending and exploitation.

Delivered with support from youth justice teams and the King’s Trust, the one-week intense programme offers qualifications in first aid, mobile access towers and construction skills, opening the pathway to employment, backed up by 3-months of mentoring.

“Future Directions” in Southampton uses a focused deterrence model with young people aged 10-18, combining intensive support with clear consequences for offending. Police officers work alongside support practitioners to deliver rapid, coordinated responses to risk.

The projects are part of a wider plan from the Commissioner to offer innovative interventions into serious violence and knife crime amongst young people.

The PCCs Violence Reduction Unit are part of an agency approach alongside police, youth justice, education teams and the Voluntary Community Social Enterprise Centre (VCSE).