Violent offenders ‘should be helped rather than punished’
A SCOTTISH criminologist has said violent offenders should be helped to become productive members of society rather than punished for misdeeds after studying the success of interventionist programmes in the US and Scotland.
Professor of Criminology Ross Deuchar, of the University of the West of Scotland, investigated the methods used in the wide-ranging Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), which was adopted by Glasgow Police in 2008.
The study is detailed in Professor Deuchar’s new book Po l i c i n g Yo u t h Violence – Transatlantic Connections, which is published on Wednesday.
He found both programmes helped cut the rate of violent offending by about 50% in the two cities, despite the huge differences in gang members’ ethnic background.
The programme works by showing gang members the consequences of their actions through meetings with paramedics and the relatives of victims of crime, while offering mentoring by former gang members.
Offenders are told they will be held accountable for the acts of individual members and police will go after them as a group if one of their number offends.
Most gang-related crime in Cincinnati revolves around the use of firearms and drug dealing, while in Glasgow most violent offenders are teenagers who fight with knives over territory.
But Professor Deuchar found both groups are linked by being marginalised by society, and addressing this is the key to breaking the cycle of violence.
He said: “While the two cultures were very different, both cities have the same underlying problems which formed the background of criminality between the gangs – poverty, joblessness among young men, the lack of fathers in their lives or significant role models, plus alcohol and drug abuse.
“In Scotland we have around 87% of young offenders in Polmont who have been there before and there is a revolving door of offending which the CIRV programme can put a stop to.
“The ethos of the programmes are beginning to filter out into society, and this research now gives us the evidence base that they work and can be taken further.”