Crime Solicitors

London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh, has announced a major expansion of a scheme, which offers support to victims of gang crime who end up in A&E departments.

Mr Greenhalgh was visiting A&E staff involved in a pilot scheme at King’s College Hospital, where youth workers are stationed in the major trauma centre (MTC), to offer assistance to young adults who attend the unit with injuries sustained as a result of gang violence, including knife wounds and gunshot wounds.

Mr Greenhalgh said:

“Gang crime is falling and the police will continue to crack down hard on gangs to keep London safe.

“But we know that stopping gang violence is about more than just policing – we also have to help those who want to exit gangs and leave violence behind.

“Working in collaboration with the NHS and the criminal justice system, this vital service will offer young victims of violent crime close personal support in their hour of need.”

As a result of London Mayor Boris Johnson increasing victim services for young people, a £600,000 initiative announced on Tuesday (17/02/15) will enable youth charity Redthread to imbed specialist youth workers in all four major trauma centre (MTCs) in London – including King’s College, St Mary’s, St George’s and Barts Health's The Royal London.

The London Mayor has made offering support to victims of gang crime and reducing youth violence in London a priority.

Working through the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC), the initiative was first developed at King’s College Hospital.

Additional MOPAC funding now means that for the first time, all London’s MTC’s will have specialists working directly with victims of gang violence being treated at the hospital, said the Mayor’s office.

New figures released this week show that in 2014, the number of gang offences in London fell by nearly 20%.

MOPAC’s Gangs Dashboard – an online database of statistics – shows that in 2014, there was a total of 5,977 serious youth violence offences, representing a fall in gang violence of 13% compared with the baseline of March 2012.

Other services exist for young people convicted of a gang related crime – but few offer support to young gang members who are also victims of
violence, many of whom suffer long-term mental health trauma as a result of their experiences in gangs.

Out of the four MTCs involved in the scheme, the Royal London and St George’s will use the additional funding to create a new specialist youth service.

St Mary’s and King’s will expand their existing services, however.

Around 500 young people passed through King’s MTC with serious injuries such as gunshot wounds and stabbings in 2014 – and the funding will be used to expand their services to include victims aged 20-25.

It is estimated that more than an extra 600 victims of gang crime each year will be helped – with King’s expanding its services to help more than 1,100 victims of gang crime every year.

Duncan Lewis Criminal Lawyers

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