Leicestershire's Youth Commission gather the views of young offenders at Glen Parva

Youth Commission volunteers ran a ‘Big Conversation’ event at Glen Parva Young Offenders Institution to capture the views of young offenders.

The Youth Commission’s aim is to speak to as many young people as possible including hard-to-reach groups.

Yesterday (Wednesday 30 March) commission members attended the prison running one-to-one interviews with young prisoners aged between 18 and 21 years old.

They were asked for their views about the relationship between young people and the police and how it can be developed as well as New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) also known as legal highs and knife crime.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire and Rutland, Sir Clive Loader, introduced the Youth Commission in 2013 and said: “We want to get young people involved in the journey of developing the relationship with the police, allowing them to be part of the solution to crime, rather than being seen as part of the problem.”

The Youth Commission is made up of a diverse group of 25 young people aged between 14 and 25 years, from Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, who give up their time to make a difference. The aim of the big conversation events are to talk about the six priorities which are most important to young people:

• new psychoactive substances (NPS)
• relationship with the police
• knife crime
• hate crime and radicalisation
• child sexual exploitation (CSE)
• domestic abuse.

A series of events are taking place with young people at schools, colleges, universities and with hard-to-reach groups. Young people will have the opportunity to express their views through interactive activities and through completing a youth survey.Governor of Glen Parva, Alison Clarke added: “We are really pleased that the young adults at Glen Parva have been able to be a part of the Big Conversation, as we want to encourage them to be active and responsible citizens, both in custody and on their release back into society.”