Leading Criminologist says Faith Community has a role to play combatting Gang Culture
Friday 26 June
Leading criminologist Professor John Pitts says that the faith community has a role to play combating gang culture in the UK.
Professor Pitts has produced a number of ground breaking reports about gang culture. Speaking ahead of his appearance at the Bite the Bullet conference being held at Westbury Avenue Baptist Church, Wood Green, London on 4 July, he said that Britain’s Christian community has a part to play in helping to combat this growing societal problem.
He said, "The value of faith community involvement in gang initiatives is that church members are local, they are often connected with the young people and families experiencing these problems, they have made a personal commitment to helping and they are likely to be around for much longer than the professionals - and continuity is very important in this kind of work."
He added, "However good intentions and commitment aren't enough. This is complex an d sometimes dangerous work and we need to find ways in which statutory and voluntary agencies can work with faith groups to provide high quality training and ongoing support."
The Revd Les Isaac, founder of Street Pastors who have organised the Bite the Bullet conference with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, hopes many Christians will attend the event as listening to Professor John Pitts will help them gain a greater understanding of gang culture.
“Gang culture is stopping some of our young people from fulfilling their potential, because they get drawn into a culture that is negative, violent and criminal,” said the Revd Isaac.
He continued, “I have heard of instances where young church goers are intimidated by gangs and won’t attend church events because they have to pass t hrough certain postcodes areas. There’s also been instances where young people have confessed they attend church with ‘tools’ in their bags to protect themselves should they encounter trouble. Churches can no longer say that gang culture is not impacting their members. John Pitts will provide details of the origins of urban gang culture and hopefully provide some pointers on how churches can counter it.”
Other speakers at Bite the Bullet will include former gang members, representatives from the Metropolitan Police and Christians who work with gang members.
The conference will be followed by a music event featuring urban gospel artists E-Tizz, Triple O and others.
