APPG: victims and witnesses of crime

Rosie Chadwick, Director of Public Affairs, Policy and Innovation spoke to an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) about Catch22's experience with young people as victims and witnesses of crime.  

Download Rosie's full speech (PDF) or read the summary below.

Catch22 experience comes from our direct support for over 30,000 young people a year who find themselves in tough situations. We also draw evidence from programmes such as Positive Futures, that we manage in association with local partners, and from two pieces of research.

Catch22 evidence base

The first peice of research was a European project 'Support for young victims of youth violence', on which we worked with German and Polish partners, involving a research and practice review, a survey and focus groups with young people and a DVD. The second involved working with Victim Support and Youth Crime Action Plan pilot projects along with our own services. Again, it involved focus groups as well as interviews with young people and with services, and two short films.

Read the What works: Developing a welfare approach to supporting young victims report (pdf).  

In the first survey we asked young people about offences they’d committed or been subject to, which revealed that the young people we support are often both victims and offenders. What we are talking about here is a significant amount of 'youth on youth' violence, much of which never comes to police attention.

Another striking finding from both pieces of research was the preference for retaliation as a response. The proportion of young people saying their first reaction would be to retaliate was much greater than those saying they would walk away, with even fewer saying they would seek support or help from a responsible adult.

This linked directly with a second stated fear of being seen as a ‘grass', which might encourage further retaliation. Other  factors in discouraging police reporting centred on young people’s lack of confidence in the police response and on past tensions with the police, reinforcing a sense that young people reporting crimes would be seen as troublemakers and not taken seriously.

What made the difference to young people was:

• having regular updates on progress of their case
• having support appropriate to need
• having a single point of contact.

When it comes to support, the personal touch is important. For many young people, being sent a letter offering support simply doesn’t cut it.

A ‘welfare approach’ in meeting the needs of young victims

This new approach means a number of things:

1. Finding a new language for talking about young people’s experiences of crime, not least to recognise that young people may not see themselves, or want to see themselves, as victims.
2. Empowering young people, both individually and collectively.
3. ‘Supporting the supporters'. 

Restorative approaches to crime

Catch22 would like to see an expansion of restorative approaches. Young people we spoke to in our research were very open to restorative justice options. Restorative approaches can be particularly appropriate given the local ‘neighbourhood’ dimension of many crimes involving young people, where those involved will continue to move in the same circles. They can also help young people make sense of things and move on.

A critical area for attention involves building strong relationships of mutual trust and respect between young people and the police. Experience has shown us that there is no better way of building two-way trust and respect than working together for a common purpose.  

Find out more about Catch22's approach to restorative justice.

Download Rosie's full speech (PDF).