Young people are using their voice to prevent youth crime in Yorkshire with ‘peer’neering project
Two teenagers from Yorkshire at the forefront of a pioneering regional project presented to convicted peers to tackle youth crime in the region.
The Peer Action Collective (PAC) Programme involves Shamza from Bradford City Community Foundation and David from Sheffield Wednesday Community Programme, both of whom are one of many Peer Researchers spearheading the youth-led programme which gives 10 to 25 year olds voice and the chance to make their communities safer, fairer places.
As part of the project and gathering research, Shamza and David are delivering sessions in Wetherby Young Offenders Institute to speak about youth crime with a group of convicted young people as well as providing them with football enrichment.
The project is the only PAC programme of its kind directly working in a Youth Offenders Institute with convicted youth offenders.
In total, 800 young people have provided their voice to the social action project as a whole; highlighting the lack of positive opportunities and role models for young people, a ‘mistrust or negative relationship’ with police and an issue of young people carrying knives.
Through the group sessions at Wetherby Young Offenders Institute, one of five institutions of its kind in the UK, houses over 160 young people aged 15 to 18, Shamza and David hope to understand more about why the young people committed their crimes, what could have been done to prevent it, and encouraging the group to use their experiences to tackle youth crime.
Shamza said:
“Working with young offenders has not only given me the chance to listen to the reasons behind why young teenagers get involved in crime, but it’s given me the opportunity to discuss with them how it can be prevented and enable communities and decision makers to take action.”
David commented on working with young offenders:
“Having the opportunity to work in Wetherby has given me a better understanding of why youth crime happening across the country and why young people get involved in crime. By speaking with young offenders I’ve been finding on what could have been done to prevent them going down the path they have or lower the chance of the crime from happening.”
Shamza and David are now using this research to take action and deliver various projects in their community including their work with young offenders.
Shamza added:
“I want this project to be a bridge of awareness for other young people thinking of carrying a weapon or committing a crime; highlighting that once you have been convicted of a crime, opportunities are limited and it can have a major impact on their lives.”
In 2021, the EFL Trust partnered with the Youth Endowment Fund, #iwill Fund and Co-op on this £5.2 million ground-breaking new youth-led network.
More recently celebrating its one-year anniversary, the programme has engaged with:
- Over 800 young people have participated in research projects on youth crime and violence
- Fourteen young people who are designing and carrying out research as Peer Researchers
- Dozens of Changemakers who are leading on local social action, based on research findings.
