Shaun Bailey has committed to breaking the cycle of crime for many Londoners, by launching his Second Chances Fund.
In 2020 knife crime was up 60%, and London was less safe than when the Mayor came to power, resulting in hundreds of preventable deaths on London’s streets. Solving this crisis requires tackling crime at every level. Currently, London has a mayor who prioritises his PR over the police and virtue-signalling over action.
Alongside hiring 8,000 new police officers and 4,000 new youth workers, Shaun is going to harness London’s Adult Education Budget (AEB) to set up the Second Chances Fund.
Shaun’s Second Chances Fund will be used to provide training to those who have served time for low-level offences. Such offenders have not committed violent offences, but they are at risk of committing such crime in the future. This is the exact point at which they need to turn their lives around, be given a second chance and help end the cycle of violence.
Adults released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months have a 64% reoffending rate.
However, research shows that educational courses costing as little as £250 can cut this reoffending rate, turning lives around and saving the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Shaun will consolidate the complicated bureaucracy of the AEB and reorient the focus to crime prevention. This will enable Shaun’s Second Chances Fund to provide education and new skills by collaborating with training providers and community organisations.
The Mayor now has full control of London’s Adult Education Budget (AEB), which is worth £306m. The AEB is designed to help those aged 19 and older to earn an education up to ‘A Level’ equivalency.
In office, Shaun would integrate the future skills and AEB budgets to maximise City Hall’s bang for buck.
Only by providing offenders with a second chance will we stop reoffending and end the cycle of violence on the streets of our Capital.
Education must form a cornerstone of London’s fight against violent crime and Shaun’s Second Chances Fund will do just that. By intervening before it’s too late, the Second Chances Fund will turn lives around and prevent future violence on London’s streets
Shaun Bailey, Conservative Candidate for London Mayor, stated: “Second chances are needed because when you grow up in a disadvantaged place, like I did and like he did, sometimes you don’t even get a first chance.”
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