Tackling youth violence in Glasgow: The Community Initiative to Reduce Violence

Background/Purpose: Violence, particularly gang violence involving young men, is a problem in Glasgow. It has a devastating impact on the community, contributes to the maintenance of Scotland's health inequalities, and places a considerable burden upon the criminal justice and healthcare system. The Glasgow Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) is a multi-agency, community-centred initiative designed to reduce violence amongst violent young men in Glasgow. The paper will described CIRV, present initial results of the mixed methods approach, and outline the overall evaluation strategy. Methods: Data on violent activity was collected from official figures for those engaged with CIRV and those who are not. In addition, a sample of those engaged were interviewed and surveyed to understand their views and opinions of CIRV and its effectiveness. Results/outcomes: Initial figures show a 49.2% reduction in violent activity among those engaged with CIRV and an 18.5% reduction in those not engaged. The interviews and surveys indicate that the young men do not see themselves as being in a gang and there are ambiguous views about the exact role of the Police; nonetheless, they value the opportunities CIRV offers, and are eager to re-integrate into society. Conclusions:The Glasgow CIRV is demonstrating early potential to reduce violence in Glasgow's East End, and is well received by those engaged with the initiative. A number of interesting issues have been raised by the young men that have implications for the future implementation of CIRV, which justifies the mixed methods approach in the evaluation strategy.