Rise in gang violence worries most parents
THE majority of parents in Britain are concerned about how gangs and violent crime among young people are being tackled.
Nearly seven in 10 parents with children aged 18 and under (68 per cent) polled by YouGov for St Giles Trust said they were not satisfied that enough was being done by the Government, charities, parents and schools to combat violent crime and gang culture among young people.
Junior Smart, the founder of St Giles SOS Project, which helps youngsters that are being exploited by criminals, said: “Child criminal exploitation is changing and unfortunately the exploiters in gangs will switch their tactics.
“One consistency is that it can wreck the lives of the young people caught up in it and those around them.”
Ebony Pinnock, violence vulnerability and exploitation manager at the charity, said: “Our staff have direct personal experience of the issues facing their young clients and come from similar backgrounds.
Exploited
“They are culturally attune with the young people’s realities.”
The YouGov poll of 1,000 parents with children aged 18 and under found that 48 per cent believe raising children is more difficult now compared to 30 years ago.
Experts cited new technology – like social media and smartphones – as a possible reason for this change.
When asked how often parents knew exactly where their child was when they left the house, 36 per cent of parents with children aged 10 to 18 said they “always” did, compared to three per cent who said “never”.
Four in 10 (40 per cent) of parents with children aged 10 to 18 said they “always” knew which friends their children were meeting when unsupervised, while 29 per cent said they “often” knew.
An estimated 27,000 children in England were gang members in 2019, the Children’s Commissioner
said. Many vulnerable children are used to traffic drugs to rural and coastal areas, by so-called county lines, of which there are an estimated 1,000. More than 90 per cent of those involved in county lines are male, but females can also be asked to carry drugs and weapons because they are less likely to be suspected, the National Crime Agency said.
St Giles supported 4,500 people under 25 through its specialist services between April 2020 and March 2021. Meanwhile, 1,704 young people involved with county line child criminal exploitation were helped in the same period – a 53 per cent increase on the previous year.
The Home Office and St Giles last year set up a service to support vulnerable children and young people exploited through county lines.
The charity has appealed for more support: £25 would provide preventative educational sessions to those at risk of serious youth violence while £50 could provide one-night emergency accommodation.
To donate and find out more, visit St Giles website at www.stgilestrust. org.uk. Text ENDCCE to 70470 to donate £10. Texts cost £10 plus one standard rate message.
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,001 parents with children aged 18 and under. Fieldwork was undertaken between July 7-9 2021. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB parents (aged 18+).