Page 44 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

addition to outcomes that limit an individual’s (and their family’s)
opportunities, inclusion on the GVM can also contribute to worse criminal
justice consequences. This has been relied on as evidence in bail applications
and in joint enterprise prosecutions, to substantiate gang membership – despite
the fact that an individual’s inclusion may be a result of their status as a victim
of serious violence, and not as a result of prior convictions. 128 Many of these
issues are well known, even to the MPS, and we note that in 2020 the GVM
underwent an overhaul at the initiative of the Mayor of London, which resulted
in a 31% reduction in the number of names listed. 129 This was followed by
further reductions in February 2021. 130

2.43 Nevertheless, we are deeply concerned by the use of the GVM, as an
intelligence tool and source of evidence in courts. We are not convinced that
the alleged policing benefits outweigh the manifest disproportionate and
negative effect it has on BAME communities. The GVM exacerbates
perceptions of children, especially BAME children, as sophisticated criminals
rather than vulnerable individuals. We therefore recommend that the GVM
should be abolished.

2.44 Until this is achieved, we consider that the GVM should primarily serve as
a safeguarding tool, with respect to children, young, and vulnerable
adults. If BAME children associated with gangs are not identified as at risk as
early as possible, they will lose visibility of whether they are victims or
perpetrators, and are unlikely to seek help when they need it. Our proposal
would mean that, where an individual is identified as being at risk of
participating in gang activities, a multi-agency safeguarding response is
implemented as quickly as possible. It should under no circumstances be used
to reduce a child’s life chances, for instance by causing school exclusion. For
example, when a child comes to Young Hackney with gang associations, it
seeks to frame the discussion around peer influence and what the child gets out
of those relationships, rather than talking about gangs. Northamptonshire
Youth Offending Service (YOS) also have a similar mindset and have set up a

128 D. Lammy, ‘Speech to London Councils’, 2016.
129 The Matrix has been the subject of reports from the Information Commissioner’s Office and the
Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime in London, both of which highlight biases within it. As a result
of these reports, a large number of low-risk individuals have been removed from the GVM. However,
large disparities remain. See ‘Mayor’s intervention results in overhaul of Met's Gangs Matrix’ Mayor
of London, 16 February 2020.
130 V. Dodd, ‘A thousand young, black men removed from Met gang violence prediction database’ The
Guardian, 3 February 2021.

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