Hope to fuel their futures

Any negative communication about violence should be accompanied by even more powerful messages that convey possibility, opportunity, and perhaps most importantly, hope – children and young people need that now more than ever.

Working for the cross-party Youth Violence Commission for several years has been an eye-opening experience. I heard so many tragic stories of young lives lost that it can be easy to lose hope. It is impossible to sum up all of my thoughts on this subject in a short blog, but there is one important issue that I would like to address here.

Many of the responses to serious violence between young people that I saw as part of my work with the Commission, and continue to see today – whether they are anti-violence interventions with young people deemed to be ‘at risk’, anti-knife crime campaigns, anti-gang school workshops, anti-violence social media campaigns, and so on – are framed in an overwhelmingly negative light.

I worry that they could be serving to make the problem worse and more intractable. It is understandable that when focusing on a problem as devastating as serious violence, the temptation can be to focus on the negatives: knives are dangerous and too many young people are carrying them; gangs are exploitative and children must remain vigilant; violence is everywhere and young people must take steps to stay safe.

But what message does all this convey to children and young people? Will it leave them feeling safer, more secure and with a greater sense of hope and optimism for the future? Or will it leave them feeling even more unsafe, insecure and full of despair and anxiety? Is a frightened and anxious young person more or less likely to carry a knife?

This is not a call for a naïve optimism that attempts to paint the world out to be something it is not. At least one foot should always be grounded in the real world, however idealistic the dreamer. It is crucially important, however, that all the contacts we have with children and young people leave them feeling more hopeful for their futures than before.

Any negative communication about violence should be accompanied by even more powerful messages that convey possibility, opportunity, and perhaps most importantly, hope – children and young people need that now more than ever.

Dr. Keir Irwin-Rogers, Lecturer in Criminology, lead criminologist for the cross-party Youth Violence Commission