9 in 10 young people in Merseyside affected by violence
A group of young people have spent the last 18 months researching youth violence in the region
Nine in ten young people across Merseyside have been affected by youth violence, including 11% of under-10s.
That's according to a new report compiled by a group of young people who have spent the last 18 months researching the issue of youth violence across the region.
From September 2021 to March 2023, the Peer Action Collective spoke to over 450 young people through one-to-one interviews, focus groups and an online survey.
Of 338 young people surveyed, they found that:
- 90% of young people have been affected by violence
- That includes 11% of under 10s, 23% of 11-15 year olds and 63% of 16-20 year olds.
Dean Leake, one of the peer researchers, said:
"That speaks to how much of a wider issue it is, not just in Merseyside but I think in wider society.
"I can speak from experience of schools that we've been to, youth groups and places like that - a lot of young people don't actually realise when you first speak to them the kind of experiences they've had of youth violence.
"They'll initially say 'oh no I've not had any experience' and then once you drill down more into their answers you'll generally find that they'll go 'oh yeah this happened' and it's not a flippant thing at all - it's quite severe.
"It is being normalised which is quite worrying."
The report also found that race, sexuality and gender still impact on how often you become a victim.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community spoke of others making jokes about being gay and making comments about their appearance.
One young person said:
"For me, I'd say personally the past couple of years, especially after like lockdown and during lockdown, there's a lot of like a violent attacks towards the LGBTQ+ community. And especially like around town and around a lot of clubs and pubs and as I am part of that, and me and my girlfriend she's from Manchester she's not from around here.
"It shouldn't actually have to be like that"
"It does set that kind of fear that something could happen and obviously like a lot of things that have happened in the past couple of years the number of people like young and old like it doesn't necessarily have to be your problem. It's just sometimes a case of wrong place, wrong time, but it shouldn't actually have to be like that, if that makes sense."
The PAC also heard examples of racism and violence against women and girls.
"He kept asking her questions and like and as if she wasn't from here"
"He was asking like where she's from and she knew straight away that what he meant by that question, so she said straight away like she's born in England, she said she was Pakistani and then like he kept on asking her questions and like as if she wasn't from here even though it's clear.
"It's clear by her voice and stuff. She is from England, and that like... it was like the first time like she said she's openly felt like she's experienced some sort of racism here in Liverpool... which I feel like it's strange because it it's obviously more modern times, so you'd imagine that she'd experienced it earlier in life maybe but now it's I don't know still occurring."
"Why you touching her lad?"
"Like once, ok, in Year 11, another story a little bit off tangent. I was on the bus and obviously this is Year 11, and it was lads like messing about but one of them made a comment and then I ended up like maybe having an argument with them on the bus. But like they were sitting around me, and they were like messing about on the bus. And then one of them um and I was just I had my earphones in, and I was like 'ah this is awful like I have to choose to sit here on the bus, didn't I? And they all had to sit around me'.
"And then one of them like kicked my seat and said like -they said ok, sorry this is a bit over um... they said 'why you touching her lad’ or something. 'Are you gonna rape her?' You know, just as you do, just as you do on the bus. Um, to which I was like sat there like well um – ‘What do I do here?’ And like it carried on. Do you know that general like lads banter? For the bus journey home.
"So, I guess in cases like that I've experienced that...that's but I don't know if that's for youth violence. But I've felt intimidated, or you know like sat there uncomfortable um by like other young people."
Grace Ward, another peer researcher involved in the project, said:
"The amount of young people who said because of my race and ethnicity I'm targeted and I get called names at school and it starts so young.
"One stood out to me. This girl who was on the bus, I think she was in Year 11 so she's about 16 and she said this Year 7 lads who were about 11, cat-calling her and making rape jokes at her.
They're kids, they're not even teenagers yet. How do they know that? It's looking at learned behaviour at well.
"That really did stand out to me how intertwined identity and the likelihood that you're going to be the victim or perpetrator of youth violence."
Throughout the project, the murders of Ava White, Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Ashley Dale and Elle Edwards have highlighted how big an issue violence is in Merseyside.
Dean said:
"We've seen the impact it's had on communities. When we've been into schools, there's been some young people who've said to us that they might have known family, they might have been friends with people and that kind of thing.
"Quite early on in the project we had the tragic incident with Ava in the city centre and that was the first thing that happened where we were like 'this is happening day to day.'
"It kind of knocked us a little bit because we're trying to make change in the city and we were all a bit low - we thought is what we're doing having an impact? Then, essentially, we had to say to ourselves 'this is the reason why we're doing it, we have to stand for something, we have to fight for the next generation essentially.
"These tragic events have only spurred us on in our work."
The next part of our coverage will focus on the recommendations made by the PAC to try and bring about positive change to reduce the levels of youth violence in Merseyside.