Brown’s latest bid to curb knife crime
Up to 20,000 families will be given intensive support to help get their wayward children back on track as part of a £100m government plan to curb youth crime, the Home Office has announced.
The widely trailed programme was unveiled amid mounting concern over knife crime following a spate of stabbing deaths in London.
Opposition parties have accused the government of delivering a “half-baked” scheme after Home Secretary Jacqui Smith gave early details of plans to force those caught with knives to visit hospitals to see stabbing victims for themselves.
But Children’s Commissioner for England Al Aynsley-Green said the programme was “a courageous initiative that sets out measured, thoughtful proposals and a long-term plan.”
By 2010, the government wants to have extended its Family Intervention Project to 20,000 of the most troubled families, offering support but also threatening sanctions such as eviction from social housing for those not cooperating.
In all, it hopes to reach 110,000 families where children are at risk of falling into crime.
“Increasingly we are able to identify these young people early and intervene to address the root causes of their behaviour, including supporting and challenging their parents in meeting their responsibilities,” Smith said.
The Youth Crime Action Plan aims by 2020 to cut by a fifth the 100,000 children aged 10 to 17 who enter the criminal justice system each year.
In so doing it also hopes to substantially reduce the numbers of young victims killed by knife crime. Some 20 teenagers have died a violent death so far this year in London as increasing numbers of youths carry knives.