Violence
Each year, 1.4 million people worldwide lose their lives to violence. For every person who dies as a result of violence, many more are injured and suffer from a range of physical, sexual, reproductive and mental health problems. (WHO, 2020)
In 2019 there were 1.4 million incidences of violence in England and Wales with 60% of these incidents involving young people and assault the second leading cause of hospital admissions for males aged 15-24.
Violent crime has risen by 19% and knife crime by 17% since 2017; the highest level for more than five years with young people below the age of 26 years most likely to be a victim or perpetrator. Each one of these incidences has the potential for life changing consequences, resulting in serious injury or death, the impact of grief on families and friends as well as destroyed futures of the perpetrators.
Early childhood enrichment programmes (3-5 yrs), life skills training and social development (6-18 yrs), and supporting high-risk adolescents to fullfill their education and goals are effective ways to end violence.
What
"Stand Against Violence (SAV) was established in 2005 by Adam Fouracre in response to the murder of his brother, 17-year-old Lloyd Fouracre, who was beaten to death in Taunton, Somerset, one day before his 18th birthday. We work with those most at risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence to help young people make the right choices, stay clear of potentially violent situations and affect their future in a positive way ultimately reducing violence in our communities.
Our vision is a world without violence. We aim to reduce interpersonal violence using powerful, interactive, evidence-based, preventative educational services to schools and organisations that support young people, including workshops, assemblies and peer programmes. We tackle the root causes of violence, change attitudes from violent behaviour and increase young people’s resilience to make informed choices away from potentially violent or criminal situations and equip them with alternative skills to resolve conflict.
SAV is now a leading provider in evidence-based violence prevention programmes and we have been awarded the Queens Award for the Voluntary Sector in 2014 in recognition of our societal impact and The Charity Times Award in celebration of our best practice approach. "
Why
"Last year, there were 1.4 million incidences of violence in England and Wales with 60% of these incidents involving young people and assault the second leading cause of hospital admissions for males aged 15-24.
Whilst overall crime continues to fall, violent crime has risen by 19% and knife crime by 17% since 2017 ; the highest level for more than five years with young people below the age of 26 years most likely to be a victim or perpetrator. Each one of these incidences has the potential for life changing consequences, resulting in serious injury or death, the impact of grief on families and friends as well as destroyed futures of the perpetrators.
Linked to this rising violence, is the increase of child exploitation by criminal gangs to sell drugs in rural towns and cities, known as ‘county lines’. Recent research by the Children’s Society has found alarming evidence of children as young as seven being exploited by brutal ‘county lines’ drug dealers with the average age between 14-17 being groomed into gang networks by exploiting ‘unmet needs’ such as money, friendship, protection or to gain power. As victims are frequently armed to protect their stash of drugs, this practice has been linked to the alarming rise in knife crime and violence across the country.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes the transition from childhood to adulthood as a time when young people’s physical, mental, emotional and social development changes dramatically and a time when young people’s behaviours are influenced by their surrounding cultural norms . Evidence shows that most young people who become involved in violence during adolescence will not have been markedly violent during childhood, instead these young people develop violent-orientated behaviour during adolescence as they become increasingly influenced by their peers, acquaintances and less so by their parents . Shockingly, only a quarter (26%) of young people between the age of 10-15 perceive violence as a crime and it is argued that in some communities, violence has even become normalised . It is therefore important to tackle the factors which “turn a child into an adolescent or adult perpetrator or victim”.
The UK Government has highlighted the urgent need for early intervention to tackle knife crime, serious violence and crack down on county lines in their Serious Violence Strategy (2018). Research from World Health Organisation, the Centre for Public Health (CPH) and Cardiff University, has shown that a public health approach is the most effective method for violence prevention by identifying and preventing the development of the factors which increase a young person’s risk of being involved in violence or exploited by a criminal gang, including interventions which aim to improve social skills ."
Where
"SAV works with the age groups most at risk of being a victim or perpetrator of violence through primary and secondary schools, youth offending teams, pupil referral units and other youth groups such as football academies. We tackle the issue of violence from multiple perspectives, including the impact on perpetrators, highlight the consequences of violence and challenge young people to consider their actions on others, to make positive future choices.
Last year, we delivered to 18,455 young people across 134 organisations.
We deliver to young people from 8 – 26 years old, in England and Wales across a diverse nature of communities, both rural and inner cities. Our regional delivery is currently:
• Midlands 9%
• North East 10%
• North West 4%
• South East and London 32%
• South West 41%
• Wales 2%
The majority of our delivery is to schools as they remain one of the most effective ways to reach large numbers of young people. The current delivery is split as:
• 65% to secondary schools
• 20% to primary schools
• 10% post-16 colleges; and
• 5% to other institutions such as special schools, private institutions and prisons. "
How
"Stand Against Violence has 14 years’ experience in delivering evidence-based and proven, public health preventative programmes and is unique in focusing specifically on generic violence through tackling underlying attitudes, social norms, social skills and conflict resolution skills. Our highly trained, Violence Prevention Practitioners, work with children from primary school age, through adolescence, up to 25 years, aiming to reach young people early, so that they have the skills and awareness to chose to make their own decisions and create positive futures. We also provide tailored and adapted workshops to young people with special educational needs and moderate learning difficulties as they are recognised as being particularly vulnerable to coercion and influenced into violent behaviour.
Our public health approach includes a range of workshops, assemblies and peer programmes tailored to the needs of young people by:
• Raising awareness of the impact of violence on lives, changing perceptions and attitudes to violence and crime
• Tackling the factors which increase a young person’s risk of being involved in violence including effects of alcohol and drugs on violent behaviour and raising awareness of the tactics of criminal gangs in exploiting young people
• Delivering life skills, emotional resilience and conflict resolution skills to prevent violence before it happens and enable young people to make positive future choices
• Creating positive, non-violent, cultural norms by delivering to the ‘whole population’ and not just focusing on individuals"
Our values
We are trusted and transparent
We are respectful and inclusive
We are caring and compassionate
We are innovative and courageous
We are aspiring and empowering
Evidence and Research
"The Centre for Public Health conducted a full independent evaluation of our work across 6 South West schools (both city and rural) involving 200 pupils. It found that 85 % of young people are less likely to resort to violence as a means of conflict resolution following our input and this impact was sustained for 6 weeks indicating significant promise for long term change.
The evaluation concluded that our workshops are “both relevant to, and effective at, improving young peoples’ knowledge and skills in conflict resolution and offers a promising violence prevention approach for young people”.
Our workshops help to reduce bullying, improve attitudes towards violence with young people less likely to choose violent means of conflict resolution, improve peer to peer behaviour and improve resilience from gang grooming. Specifically, our delivery approach achieves:
• Improved young people’s knowledge and skills for avoiding potentially violent situations
• An 85% change in attitude rate towards violence which has been measured to be sustained for at least six to eight weeks post workshop with the potential for long term impact."
