London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has delivered one million targeted interventions and positive opportunities for Londoners since its creation in 2019, with hospital admissions for knife assault among young people more than halving over the same period, according to Lib Peck, the unit's director.
Writing in a comment piece, Peck said the unit was established by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, at the start of 2019 in response to a crisis in which homicides of young people were front-page news. She said the mayor took a bold step in the face of mounting political pressure, choosing a public health approach to tackling knife crime and violence.
Prevention over enforcement
Peck said the national conversation around knife crime had long been dominated by the mistaken assumption that the only way out of the crisis was to arrest our way out of violence. The essence of the VRU's approach is that to stop violence, you have to prevent it from happening in the first place.
The then Government followed the mayor's lead, setting up 19 other Violence Reduction Units across the country. Peck said the call from some was centred on more police and solely an enforcement approach, but Khan recognised prevention was equally important, arguing that you need to be both tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime.
Partnership working across the capital
Peck said the VRU has worked in partnership across the capital, bringing together health, education, community organisations and the police. The unit has invested in a mix of interventions, diversionary activities and targeted support, working to keep young people in school so they aren't vulnerable to exploitation by criminal gangs, creating positive opportunities and delivering after-school diversionary work and funding for youth clubs.
She said the VRU has funded skilled youth workers to take young people off the streets and away from the grip of gangs. They also work with young people in a police cell or a hospital bed, preventing retaliation, reoffending and breaking the cycle of violence.
Data shows progress
By the end of this month, the VRU will have delivered one million targeted interventions and positive opportunities for Londoners, with more than three quarters aimed at young people. Comparing 2018 with now, the number of young people admitted to hospital for knife assault has more than halved.
There were also 12,500 fewer victims of violence in those seven years, while knife crime has fallen and continues to show a downward trend with a 10 per cent reduction in the last 12 months. Peck said one violent incident is one too many and there isn't any room for complacency, but progress is being made and the work of the VRU and the coalition of youth workers, mentors, teachers and those working every day with young people is having a meaningful and positive impact.
Peck concluded that London is demonstrating what is possible when you treat violence as preventable rather than inevitable, and there are now opportunities for the Government to learn from the approach to prevent young people from falling into violence and the criminal justice system.
