Page 51 - JUSTICE Tackling Racial Injustice - Children and the Youth Justice System

year-old boy for mispronouncing “cucumber” as something that they thought
sounded like “cooker bomb” when describing a picture he drew. 155

2.58 Within schools, the programme may be causing a disproportionate focus on
Muslim communities’ perceived extremism in a context where far right
movements are increasing in scope. For instance, at a national level, recent
figures indicate that of cases referred, 43% were for right-wing radicalisation,
with 30% for Islamist radicalisation. This is despite worrying anti-Muslim
trends in schools, where polling in 2015 indicated that 31% of young children
believe Muslims are “taking over England” and 26% believed that “Islam
encourages terrorism”. 156 The threat of referral has led to many children being
“more careful about what they talk about for fear of being referred through
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PREVENT.”
2.59 Muslim children experience many of the same negative justice outcomes as
other BAME groups, but on top of this they believe their religion is considered
dangerous by the YJS. Indeed, PREVENT, in conjunction with the GVM, can
result in a heightened level of undue scrutiny on communities where
intersections exist. It is wholly unacceptable that children should be made to
feel this. We therefore consider that the Government must urgently re-start
the inquiry into PREVENT, in a form that will secure the confidence of
Muslim communities. It is vital that this review fully assess the drivers for
the disproportionate way in which referrals are made. 158 Muslim children
and Muslim organisations should have confidence in the impartiality of the
review, and be engaged to better understand their concerns as well as their
religion. This should result in guidance for not only PREVENT, but each stage

155 B. Quinn, ‘Nursery ‘raised fears of radicalisation over young boy’s cucumber drawing’, The
Guardian, 2016.
156 Largest survey of schoolchildren by Show Racism the Red Card: see M. Taylor, ‘Racist and anti-
immigration views held by children revealed in schools study’ The Guardian, 2015.
157 Ibid.
158 While the inquiry was paused after Lord Carlile stepped down in December 2019 (Matrix Chambers,
‘Lord Carlisle stood down as independent reviewer of Prevent programme’, 2019), a new chair, William
Shawcross, has since been appointed. However, this has provoked controversy due to previous
comments he has made, and Muslim communities have reasonable concerns as to his suitability. For
instance, he has stated “Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future. I think all
European countries have vastly, very quickly, growing Islamic populations...” - The Muslim Council of
Britain, The impact of Prevent on Muslim communities: a briefing to the Labour Party on how British
Muslim communities are affected by counter-extremism policies, (2016), p. 40.

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