WIREDGOV

Government gets tough on serious violence

HOME OFFICE News Release (019/2008) issued by The Government News Network on 18 February 2008

Warning youngsters about the dangers of weapons and spotting those at risk of committing serious violence to stop them in their tracks are part of a package of actions to tackle serious violence unveiled by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith today.

The new action plan is the first of its kind to focus on serious violence. It sets out what the Government, together with police and local agencies, will do over the next three years to cut homicide, knife crime, gun and gang-related crime and sexual and domestic violence.

Key measures include:

* creating a presumption to prosecute those who are found carrying a knife and tougher sentences for knife crime;

* providing the police with 100 portable knife arches and 400 search wands immediately, and making more available over the next year to ensure this technology is available where needed across the country;

* a new £1 million campaign to challenge the 'glamour', fear and peer pressure that can drive youngsters to knife crime, and working with Be Safe to offer over 1 million young people access to workshops on the dangers of weapons;

* investing over £20 million over the next three years to support the rollout of multi-agency interventions and information sharing, involving local police, local councils, voluntary groups and health workers, across the country to manage and identify people at risk of committing serious violence as well as providing support for victims;

* increasing the number of Sexual Assault Referral Centres for victims of sexual violence from 19 to 48 to cover every part of the country; and

* greater protection of children from sex offenders - including a pilot in four police force areas (Cleveland, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire and Warwickshire) to allow for the increased disclosure of child sex offenders' convictions to certain members of the public.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

"Every shooting or stabbing, every rape, every child sexually abused, every case of someone suffering domestic violence is one too many. Serious violent crime accounts for 1% of all crime, but where it does occur, it devastates lives, blights communities with fear and causes terrible suffering not just for victims, but for their families and friends as well.

"We are determined not to let violent offenders get away with wrecking lives by stopping them committing crimes in the first place. That is why I am today pledging that by 2011, we will have reduced serious violent crime, including gun and gang-related violence, knife crime, sexual and domestic violence and improved the criminal justice response to these offences.

"We have made good progress - violent crime has fallen by 31% since 1997 and the risk of being a victim of serious violence remains extremely low. We have set tough targets for the police and local agencies to tackle serious violence, giving them more local decision making powers to find solutions to local priorities. The challenge now is to ensure that the good practice we have developed is applied as widely as possible, to the benefit of everyone in all communities."

Keith Bristow, ACPO lead on Violent Crime and Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police said:

"Police forces, together with partners and local communities, have been working to tackle the issue of violent crime. These efforts have been reflected in the recent British Crime Survey, which highlighted how some crimes of this nature such as homicide, wounding and firearms offences have reduced.

"The Police Service as a whole is committed and determined to build on the work already being done and as such has worked with the Home Office to assist in the development of this plan.

"ACPO welcomes the Home Office's action plan published today and we look forward to further collaboration in order to develop the Police contribution to the delivery of this plan.

"We are encouraged to see the commitment by agencies other than the Police in tackling violent crime. This clearly recognises that dealing with violence is also an issue for partners and local communities and not just law enforcement."

Michelle Bernasconi from the Victims Advisory Panel said:

"The Victims Advisory Panel has made a number of recommendations relating to support for victims and suggested that existing good practice be extended to cover more vulnerable victims of violent crime.

"We therefore welcome this action plan and strongly support the commitment to extend the use of Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences and to ensure that all areas of the country have specialist Sexual Assault Referral Centres."

Other key themes in the Action Plan include:

* new controls on deactivated firearms;

* working with police to identify key gang members, enhance the use of covert surveillance and implement targeted, multi-agency crackdowns;

* strengthening special measures such as live links and anonymity to protect witnesses at the earliest possible stage of the Criminal Justice System;

* rolling out the Specialist Domestic Violence Court Model to cover other forms of violence to ensure that sensitive cases can be heard in a safe and protected environment;

* implementing the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings to ensure minimum standards and rights for all identified victims of human trafficking;

* working with industry to tackle offensive content on the internet and the representation of violence in video games, films and other media; and

* developing a national strategy for tackling honour-based violence.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The Government's Saving Lives, Reducing Harm Protecting the Public: Tackling Violence Action Plan 2008 can be found at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk

2. The Home Secretary will draw together Cabinet Members from across the Government into a new Ministerial Action Group to drive the Action Plan forward. This will be supported by officials, senior police officers and others. This will ensure continual action in all communities and hold local partners to account.

3. This new infrastructure will set the pace nationally and will ensure that between now and 2011, the public will see:

* reduced gun crime and gang related violence;

* increased action against knife crime, in particular involving young people;

* increased action against sexual violence, with a particular focus on improving the investigation and prosecution of rape and protecting children from sex offenders;

* a further improved response to tackling domestic violence in every community in the country;

* a reduction is street prostitution, human trafficking and all forms of sexual exploitation;

* improved action to manage known violent offenders, as well as those who are most at risk of becoming involved in serious violence; and

* enhanced care and support for victims of violence.

4. The Government's Public Service Agreements (PSAs) for 2008-11 include commitments to prioritise action to tackle the most serious violent and sexual offence: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/crimereduction020.htm

5. Keith Bristow is Chief Constable of Warwickshire Police and is the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on violent crime.

6. The Be Safe project is a charitable organisation educating young people that knives cost lives. Contact Kevin Everard on 01245 456747/353853 for more information.

7. The Victims Advisory Panel is a statutory advisory non-departmental public body which was established in March 2003 to enable victims of crime to have their say both in the reform of the criminal justice system and in developments in services for victims of crime.