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‘Hard-to-Reach’ Young People and Community Safety: a model for participatory research and consultation

Police Research Series Paper 152 – Briefing Note, January 2002

This briefing note outlines research commissioned to examine homeless and school-excluded young people’s experiences of crime and disorder. It sets out a model for consultation, Participatory Action Research and Consultation (PARC), which was developed for use with hard-to-reach young people elsewhere as part of the research.

The first round of audits and strategies produced by Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships showed that young people were largely included as offenders rather than as victims of crime. Their views were not generally uncovered in audits, they were not well represented in consultations and few strategies addressed their role as victims. These limitations were compounded for hard-to-reach groups of young people.

The fieldwork was undertaken in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2000 and involved over 250 homeless and school excluded young people as well as over 75 people who work with these groups.

The briefing note lists the suggestions from the main report (to be published shortly) on consultation with hard-to-reach young people:

• consultation should include a strong qualitative element (eg their attitudes, experiences and understandings of crime should be explored in depth)

• participatory research approaches offer great benefits in involving young people in the audit and strategy process and in promoting their interests

• research findings should be addressed and acted upon where appropriate, but since there are limitations to such methods, their used as a basis for action must be acknowledged if they are to be used effectively.

Getting a copy

The Briefing Note can be downloaded from the Home Office website:

‘Hard-to-Reach’ Young People and Community Safety: a model for participatory research and consultation PDF (49Kb)