Insights Report
Author: Harvey Redgrave, Chief Executive
Friday 17 December 2021
FINAL REPORT (PDF): Serious Violence – will government policy be enough?
Since 2018, Crest has been leading research into the drivers of serious violence across England and Wales. During that time, the government has begun a campaign to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers and provided funding for 18 new Violence Reduction Units, to help tackle the problem. But despite a dip during the Covid-19 lockdowns, knife crime, gang-related violence and murders remain at worryingly high levels.
In this report, our Chief Executive, Harvey Redgrave, shines a light on the policy implications arising from Crest’s research and asks whether the Government’s current efforts will be enough to turn the tide.
Crest’s detailed research programme focusing on the drivers of serious violence is funded by the Dawes Trust. We have published a number of reports examining different facets of the problem, from shifts in drug markets to the rise in vulnerability among young people. If there is a common thread that ties these features together it is the need for a holistic strategy for tackling violence, which uses all of the levers available to the government and combines prevention with tough enforcement.