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In this report, Knife Crime, the Home Affairs Committee sets out a number of conclusions and recommendations:

• There is a need to target knife-carriers and violent offenders separately. For the former, it advocates education in schools about the realities of knife-carrying and measures to help young people feel safer, such as improving confidence in the police and better victim support – Chance UK’s mentoring scheme which uses police officers as mentors was highlighted
• Supports the use of stop and search, providing it is carried out in an appropriate manner
• The use of custody as an appropriate sentence for the majority of knife-carriers and for violent offenders is offset by high re-offending rates that highlight its ineffectiveness as a long-term solution to violent crime
• The report advocates the adoption of a long-term violence reduction strategy that focuses on prevention
• Specific recommendations include early intervention with babies and toddlers born into dysfunctional families, and a more strategic approach to providing diversionary activities and support for excluded young people

A number of examples and references to mentoring were made in the report including: The Prince’s Trust mentoring scheme in 3 prisons using former offenders to meet young people at prison gate and support transition process; Nottingham’s ‘Early Intervention City’ where a mentoring scheme for young people is one of five main areas of work and the UNCUT project which investigates motivations behind weapon carrying and deliver a range of preventative initiatives including one-to-one mentoring.

Read Knife Crime (Home Affairs Select Committee, HC 112-I)

Search the MBF resource directory for more reports, papers and recommendations

Read more youth mentoring and befriending case studies