GMCA: Community views on violent crime affecting young people

Our impact

Greater Manchester has higher rates of violent crime than the national average across England and Wales: there was an 89% rise in knife crime between 2015-1018 and there are three knife crime offences in schools in Greater Manchester each week. 

We were jointly commissioned by Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Greater Manchester Police and the 10 Greater Manchester Local Authorities, to learn about what was driving this increase and what could be done to inform their shared action plan to tackle violent crime.

Our research sought to understand what was influencing the lives, decisions and behaviours of young people, aged 10-25, associated with violence. In particular we looked at gaining a set of insights from a range of people across Greater Manchester who were from beyond the ‘usual voices’.

In total we held interviews and focus groups with 350 people across Greater Manchester communities, including young and adult offenders, primary and secondary school pupils, young people attending youth centres, parents, practitioners working with families and young people, shopkeepers (Salford only), taxi drivers, faith leaders, older residents, people experiencing homelessness, and teachers. 

Our six key insights were: 

1. Social media is viewed as amplifying and exacerbating violent conflict
    
2. There are concerns that young people are growing up in school, home and community environments in which conflict and violence are normalised
    
3. Changes to neighbourhood policing are seen as the cause of a worsening relationship between communities and police
    
4. Vulnerability and fear are important drivers in the increase in young people carrying weapons
    
5. ‘Toxic masculinity’ and pressure to conform appears to increase the likelihood of young men being perpetrators or victims of violent crime
    
6. Communities feel there is an urgent need to create safe places and strong relationships to divert young people from violent crime

The approach

We began with a pilot in Salford, which was as much about testing the methods as it was gaining insights. We tested nine different research groups and a variety of methods, but most frequently used informal interviews and semi-structured workshops. Through this pilot we learnt a series of lessons about which methods worked best for different groups. For instance, for the research groups who were “eyes on the street”, like taxi drivers, a variety of interviewees is more important than quantity or a large focus group. We collaborated with the Community Safety Teams across GM to roll out our research approach to the other nine boroughs across Greater Manchester, adapting our approach as we worked, and expanding our research groups significantly.  

Our work led to this report with six key insights and ten recommendations.