Education Authority Y Box Doc

PART ONE MALE YOUTH VIOLENCE: AN INTRODUCTION Youth violence can be defined as violence that occurs among individuals 10-29 years who are unrelated and takes place outside of the home (WHO, 2022). It is a highly complex issue (Krug et al., 2002; Farrell and Zimmerman, 2017). It is also socially, psychologically and economically costly (Bellis et al., 2015), affecting the individuals that are directly exposed, but also entire communities where rates of violence are elevated (Fowler et al., 2009). Although pervasive in many societies, issues are exacerbated in post-conflict settings such as Northern Ireland (Walsh and Gray, 2021). A limited number of metrics currently exist to estimate exposure to violence and its harms. Police recorded crime data is one metric and this shows that in Northern Ireland violence against the person (VAP) has been steadily rising since 2012 (PSNI, 2023). Just like global patterns, there were reductions in community violence in NI during the Covid-19 pandemic, however, police recorded crime figures show that incidences have not only returned to pre-pandemic levels, but are currently exceeding those pre-pandemic figures (ibid). Violence, takes many forms and affects young people in different ways. Whilst we know little about prevalence, there have been a number of studies that illustrate how common exposure to violence is. For example, findings from NI’s first well-being prevalence survey found that violence was the single most commonly experienced trauma for young people (Bunting et al., 2020). Using data from the Young Life and Times survey, the Executive Office (2022) reported that among a representative sample of 16 years olds in Northern Ireland, more than half had experienced physical violence, 28% had reported being exposed to coercive control and 36% had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour. It is highly likely that these figures are even higher in some areas. For example, a series of cross sectional studies have found that as many as 40% of young people have a life-time exposure to direct victimisation and more than 50% have witnessed serious violence (Walsh, 2022). Combined, this points to the endemic nature of violence in some communities. For young men in particular, violence is a part of everyday life (Harland and McCready, 2015; Walsh and Schubotz, 2019). Young men are most at risk of community-based youth violence, but, they are also most likely to perpetrate violence against other young men and against girls and young women. Indeed, those such as Tomsen and Gadd (2019) suggest that most violence ‘is’ male violence, and often occurs in communities that are also affected by other forms of higher-harm violence such as paramilitarism and organised crime (Walsh, Doherty and Best, 2021; Walsh, 2022). Given the scale of violence, much of which is often hidden and unacknowledged, many argue that this represents a significant public health concern (Krug, 2002; Lee et al., 2014; Walsh, 2019). The public health impact of violence is illustrated by the range of harms that often follows exposure (Fowler et al., 2009). This includes elevated rates of psychological distress, increased rates of substance use, reduced educational attainment and increased violence offending (APA, 2018; Walsh, Doherty and Best, 2021). Understanding

SECTION 1: THE FRAMEWORK

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