Tried and tested approaches to reduce youth offending
Children as young as eight years old who are at risk of falling into criminal activity and anti-social behaviour are to benefit from seven tried and tested interventions to be rolled out across many parts of Scotland.
They are amongst 25 projects from across the UK sharing in £25 million from BIG’s Realising Ambition programme which aims to scale up and replicate proven approaches that improve the prospects of 8-14 year olds and reduce first time offending. It is estimated that, in total, all seven initiatives working in Scotland will reach out to 46,824 of the most ‘at risk’ Scottish children.
An award winning Scottish mentoring scheme which has been proven to steer young people away from a life of crime receives £1,193,000. Plusone mentoring delivered by the YMCA Scotland has already made an impact in Fife, Perth and Kinross and North Lanarkshire where it has been operating an early intervention programme since 2009 aimed at supporting children aged 8 to 14 whose behaviour is becoming a concern. Evaluation of the project has reported outstanding results with 86% of children showing significant change in behaviour within six months including higher attendance at school and less disruptive behaviour in school.
Another approach to be replicated in Scotland comes from the Children’s Parliament which receives an award of £319,965 to support vulnerable children aged 8 to 14 in Glasgow. They will work with the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, a multi-agency initiative designed to reduce gang violence across Glasgow, to support children and their families at a key time when they have most likelihood of turning around negative habits. The project which has operated in Fife, the Western Isles South Ayrshire and Midlothian will now be rolled out to benefit 337 children in schools in north east Glasgow.
A full list of projects which will be replicated in Scotland can be found here