Children and young people’s perceptions of and interactions with the police: A case for ‘defunding the police’, ‘refunding civil society’ and introducing ‘community first’

Weston, Samantha, Griffiths, Claire and Day, Anne-Marie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8525-770X (2025) Children and young people’s perceptions of and interactions with the police: A case for ‘defunding the police’, ‘refunding civil society’ and introducing ‘community first’. Criminology & Criminal Justice : CCJ. ISSN 1748-8958 (In Press)

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Abstract

Louise Casey’s (2023) review revealed a series of concerns about London Metropolitan Police concluding that institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia pervades across the whole organisation. Acknowledging that police legitimacy is under threat, some have called for the police to be defunded. Drawing on data collected via a survey and focus groups with children and young people from traditionally unheard minoritised groups attending a community based programme, this paper reveals low levels of satisfaction with and trust of the police amongst this group. In contrast, activities based and created within young people’s own communities provided opportunities to be safe, protected and among people they trusted. Drawing on Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, we suggest that the call to ‘defund the police’ may not be the radical alternative that many would have us believe and instead call to ‘refund civil society’ by advocating for a ‘community first’ approach to resolve complex social problems.