Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Home Office Research Study 234

This research paper outlines a project set up as a result of concerns raised by rural youth workers in Suffolk about the lack of facilities for young people, and the young people's feelings of powerlessness within the community. These factors have led to increased acts of vandalism and deteriorating relationships between the young people and the adults in the area. There were also growing concerns that young people were experiencing a lack of self-esteem, which in turn, created situations in which they became more vulnerable to substance misuse or succumbed to criminal behaviour.

The main aims of this project, which was targeted at young people aged 13 to 20 years living in rural Suffolk were to

• improve the access to local services

• increase and promote the involvement of young people in civic life and decision making

• reduce criminality and anti-social behaviour

The overall objective was to establish a community where young people felt that they had a sense of ‘ownership’ and self-worth, and where criminality does not have the opportunity to take hold.

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