What Worked? Policy Mobility and the Public Health Approach to Youth Violence

The study seeks to further the ESRC's strategic objective of a 'safer, fairer society' through establishing a new evidence-base on public health approaches to violence reduction, and the ways such policies transfer between jurisdictions, to shape policy, guide best practice, and inform academic and public debate.

The study responds to the urgent social problem of rising youth violence. England and Wales have seen marked increases in homicide, knife crime, and hospital admissions for stab-wounds, with particular concentrations in the city of London. Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has stated that tackling youth violence is her 'number one priority.'

In March 2019, UK Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled a consultation on a new public health strategy for youth violence. This approach, which seeks to address violence using principles of prevention and education rather than policing and justice, marks a major step-change in policy. The interest in developing this approach stems primarily from Scotland, where radical reductions in violent crime over the last decade have been attributed to the adoption of a public health model.

There is however a lack of clear understanding of 'what worked' in the Scottish context. While there have indeed been marked declines in youth violence, the mechanisms that have driven this decrease are poorly understood. There is confusion over what public health approaches are, how they work, and the conditions under which such ideas can travel. As a result, despite significant potential, the implications of the public health approach remain vague.

The study will be delivered in three work-streams over a three year period:

1. What Worked

Through thirty semi-structured interviews with elite actors - senior police, politicians, and civil servants - we will establish an expert appraisal of the causes of violence reduction in Scotland. This will be complemented by a detailed documentary analysis, investigating the social, political, and cultural conditions in which violence reduction occurred, and a series of twenty semi-structured interviews with practitioners and residents of communities affected by violence to establish a bottom-up account of change. Finally, available statistical data on violence and health will be leveraged to triangulate explanations. These data-sources will be combined to produce a policy briefing, two journal articles, and a short film on the theme of 'what worked'.

2. Policy Travels

Using flexible and responsive ethnographic methods, we will track the evolution of the public health approach in London as it evolves in real time, entering the 'assumptive worlds' of policy through attendance at key meetings and events. Observations will be complemented by a series of thirty semi-structured interviews with elite actors engaged in violence reduction in London, and twenty semi-structured interviews with local residents and youth practitioners, exploring the factors that promote or impede change. Mirroring data-collection in Scotland, relevant statistical data will be used to evaluate the extent to which policy changes are impacting on violence reduction. These data will be used to produce a second policy briefing, two journal articles, and a series of podcasts on 'how ideas travel'.

3. Connecting Communities

Data from these work-streams will be connected via an open access data-set to enhance understanding of best practice in violence reduction. Data will be analysed and published as an academic monograph aimed at scholars working in the areas of criminology, public health and social policy. Through our advisory group and engagement with policy user-groups, we will engage directly with policy actors at the highest level, and using cooperative methods will create a practitioner toolkit. Communities of policy, practice and public will be connected through a website, a series of events and a roadshow.

The emotional, social and economic consequences of youth violence are stark. Increased instances of serious violence result in deep-seated issues of trauma and bereavement, heighten the public's fear of crime and create mistrust between communities and law enforcement. The study will seek to effect meaningful change in policy, practice and public debate, contributing a real-time evidence-base on youth violence that will reduce its impact on individuals and communities. The study has three core conceptual impact objectives:

1. Policy: To build a systematic evidence-base on 'what worked' in Scotland, and the factors that influence policy adoption, to shape emergent Scottish and UK policy on violence reduction.

The public health approach has significant potential to contribute to violence reduction, but this is hampered by a lack of evidence as to 'what works', and the mechanisms that might underpin successful policy transfer. Fraser, McVie and Linden (project partner) have extensive networks in the field of Scottish youth violence policy - including Scottish Government, Police Scotland, and Community Justice Scotland - and will draw on these connections to mobilise new evidence to influence policy at the highest level. Lessons from the study will inform violence reduction through user-group engagement with the National Violence Board, Health and Justice Collaboration Improvement Board, and civil service. Irwin-Rogers, Newburn and Linden are well-networked with policy and professional networks in Westminster pertaining to violence reduction. The study will seek to influence emergent policy at a UK level through engagement with MPs, the Mayor's Office, Metropolitan Police, London Violence Reduction Unit, and cross-party groups on violence (see letters of support).

2. Practice: To distinguish, promote and share good practice in violence reduction from Scotland and London, enabling real-time learning between practitioners in different locales, to prevent the waste of scant resources and ineffective solutions.

There are 2.5 million episodes of violence in England and Wales per year with an estimated annual cost to the NHS of £2.9 billion. Yet youth services and violence practitioners, who deal with the sharp edge of violence, have seen deep cuts to provision. In this context, there is a clear desire for practical lessons for frontline services. Without a meaningful evidence-base of 'what worked', there is a risk that scant resources will be directed into 'quick fix' solutions that fail to address the deeper social drivers of youth violence. As a former youth worker, Fraser has strong connections with youth service providers in Glasgow; through his work with the Youth Violence Commission, Irwin-Rogers has an established network in London, particularly Lambeth. Complemented by Linden's connections in both cities, the study will seek to harness and share good practice between the cities in real-time, and provide an evidence-base which practitioners can use when they seek funding.

3. Public: To clarify public dialogue of the meaning of the public health approach to youth violence, and raise awareness of its potential, promoting evidence-based and informed public debate.

Public debate around youth violence in England has in recent years reached fever pitch, yet messaging around evidence of the efficacy of differing strategies is often either inconsistent or incorrect. The research team have extensive experience of public engagement - Fraser is a former BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker and has significant broadcast experience; McVie is a regular contributor to TV and Radio debates and a winner of several impact prizes; and Newburn led on the LSE/Guardian prize-winning study 'Reading the Riots' - which will be drawn on to inform public debate. Print and broadcast media will be leveraged alongside blogs, web-content and social media (Irwin-Rogers has a Twitter following of 21.3k, Newburn 13k).