Police crackdown on gang leaders not enough, CSJ warns

A strategy to remove gang leaders following last year’s riots may have created more violence on the streets of British cities, a major report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has highlighted.

The study, which received widespread media coverage and endorsement, reviews political efforts to tackle gangs a year after the riots.

The paper, Time to Wake Up, also highlights an escalation in the number of school pupils being drawn into gangs with children attending classes wearing rival colours.

CSJ policy director, Alex Burghart, explained during a live debate on Channel 4 News that a strategy implemented a year ago to arrest gang leaders was right. But he said the strategy did not offer sufficient preventative work and failed to give youngsters the tools and support to disown gang life. He also said that the removal of gang leaders had created a power vacuum in many communities and that led to increased violence.

The report, which was discussed at length on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (from 1:35:22), took evidence from the CSJ’s poverty-fighting Alliance of charities, who described their experiences working with young gang members.

Patrick Regan OBE, founder and Chief Executive of the charity XLP, said: "Everyone tells us the gang problem is getting better, but for organisations working at a grassroots level we look out of our window and that’s not what we see.”

The study was reported as an exclusive story on the Observer’s front page, and was also covered by: the Guardian, Sky News, BBC, the Independent, Daily Mail, Metro, ITN, the Press Association, politics.co.uk, Evening Standard, the Sun and Scotsman.

The CSJ has made a number of recommendations, including: more preventative work to discourage young people from joining gangs, more police and youth engagement and better link-up between local authorities and charities.

Read our landmark report on gangs, Dying to Belong.

XLP and the CSJ are delighted to be hosting a major conference on tackling Britain’s gang culture. To find out more and book a place, click here.