Antisocial Shifts In Social Policy And Serious Violence Between Young People: Evidence From The Cross-Party Youth Violence Commission
| Author | Keir Irwin-Rogers, Jo Phoenix, Joseph de-Lappe |
| Pages | 4-27 |
4
British Journal of Community Justice
©2020 Manchester Metropolitan University
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 16 (2) 4–27
ANTISOCIAL SHIFTS IN SOCIAL POLICY AND SERIOUS
VIOLENCE BETWEEN YOUNG PEOPLE: EVIDENCE FROM
THE CROSS-PARTY YOUTH VIOLENCE COMMISSION
Keir Irwin-Rogers (The Open University), Joseph de-Lappe (The Open University), Jo
Phoenix (The Open University)
Abstract
In recent years, public spending cuts and regressive reforms to a number of social policies in
England and Wales have had a disproportionately adverse effect on those young people already
most vulnerable and marginalised, thereby contributing to the recent rise in rates of serious
interpersonal violence. To support this argument, we draw on data generated by six evidence
sessions held on the Parliamentary Estate as part of the recent work of the cross-party Youth
Violence Commission. In particular, we contend that cuts to education budgets and perverse
school inspection framework criteria, counterproductive funding structures and cuts to youth
services, and the increased use of discriminatory policing practices such as stop and search, all
provide examples of antisocial shifts in social policy. We argue that if levels of violence are to
decline in the coming years, it is imperative that governments develop and implement social and
economic policies that include rather than exclude young people, that safeguard dignity rather
than foster anxiety, and that enable all young people to feel cared for, valued, and hopeful for their
futures.
Keywords
Violence, social policy, inequality, political marginalisation, young people
Antisocial shifts in social policy and serious violence between young people:
evidence from the cross-party Youth Violence Commission
5
Introduction
In recent years, serious violence has attracted heightened attention from a range of
individuals and groups, including politicians, senior professionals across numerous
occupations, and the mainstream media. Stories in the latter have alerted the public to the
supposedly ‘shocking scale of youth knife crime’ (Camber, 2019) and a ‘Wild West’ of
violence in the UK (Dearden, 2018). Underneath the sensationalist headlines, however,
floats a raft of statistics that reveal a more complex and nuanced picture. We provide a brief
overview of these statistics in the following section, suffice to say that the best available
data suggest that while current levels of serious interpersonal violence in England and
Wales are considerable, they remain relatively low when compared to other countries
around the world, and relatively stable when considered historically. Nevertheless, it is
important to recognise that such violence blights the lives of certain groups of people far
more than others, and causes immense pain, misery and trauma to the families and friends
of those affected.
In this article, we argue that recent reforms to several key social policies have exacerbated
the disproportionate impact of serious interpersonal violence on certain social groups, and
contributed more broadly to the rise in such violence since 2014. Our arguments are based
on evidence provided to the cross-party Youth Violence Commission (YVC)1, to which one
of the present authors provides academic support. The YVC was set up following a debate
on serious youth violence i n the House of Commons on 3rd March 2016, led by MPs Vicky
Foxcroft, David Lammy and Chuka Umunna (Hansard HC Deb). The primary purpose of the
YVC has been to seek cross-party consensus on evidence-based policy aimed at reducing
levels of serious interpersonal violence between young people. To this end, the YVC
conducted a series of six expert evidence sessions held on the Parliamentary Estate: the first
on the topic of youth services and community work; the second on mental health and a
public health approach to violence; the third on early years, education and employability;
the fourth on housing and communities; the fifth on media, music and role models; and the
sixth on policing and criminal justice.
In this article, we explore some of the evidence provided to the YVC across these six
evidence sessions. Instead of attempting a comprehensive overview of all of the evidence
gathered by the YVC, we provide a more detailed examination of three key areas of social
policy, namely, education, youth services, and policing. We argue that rising school
exclusions and cuts to education budgets, cuts to youth services and counterproductive
funding structures, and the police’s fervent use of stop and search, constitute forms of what
Carlen (1995: 213) has termed ‘antisocial control’. Recent changes implemented in these
three areas of social policy have served to heighten levels of relative deprivation and social
marginalisation, disproportionately affecting those who are young, poor, male and Black.2
1 The YVC is comprised of MPs from each of the three major political parties in the UK and
has received academic support from The Open University, the University of Warwick’s
Policy Lab, and London South Bank University.
2 We use the term ‘young people’ in this article to reflect the fact that serious
interpersonal violence can affect any young person, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity
and class. It is important to note, however, that the vast majority of young people to
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