By Chantelle Tindall
Manchester-based community peace activist – Dr Erinma Bell MBE has called for the eradication of Joint Enterprise and Gang Matrix laws, and the removal at the earliest opportunity, of the names of those innocently involved by affiliation.
Joint Enterprise laws according to Dr Bell, prosecutes a whole group of people for the crime of just one - by association.
She spoke at a seminar involving different communities, charity organisations, ex and reformed offenders, representatives of the Army, Police and other bodies. The aim of the seminar was to expose the dangers surrounding the stigmatisation of persons labelled as gang members within the Joint Enterprise and Gang Matrix laws.
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Dr Bell traced the origins of the laws to the Government's speedy review on growing gang violence following the 2011 England Summer riots. The aim was to improve schools, help young offenders, find schools with poor literacy, order schools to publish names of expelled and suspended youths to stop young people going without training or any form of education or employment and much more. According to Bell, unfortunately, it failed completely.
Following the government review, the Home Office earmarked a non-statutory £10m towards combating the menace of gangs. Research shows that some local authorities, desperate to be beneficiaries of this fund, went searching for gang problems even where there were none.
The Metropolitan Police's redefinition of gang members now includes: three or more people, a group of criminals belonging together, adolescents with delinquent behaviours, their social media activities and also the type of music they listen to.
Dr Bell noted that some of these indicators could be anybody and could be very dangerous as innocent people become victimised. This relabelling and redefining of what constitutes a gang was the result of a research from the U.S.A. where gang culture and violence is much more of a menace.
Dr Bell discussed the negative domino effect these laws have had in the lives of individuals involved. The gang matrix system is deeply flawed in that people trapped by them are dragged down further and further. This stigmatisation also affects their families. They carry this tag with them for the rest of their lives and some of them do not even realise it until they apply for jobs or are about to move house. Only then do the authorities reveal to them their inability to secure appropriate jobs or move to a new environment because for years they themselves or a member of their family was trapped in a gang matrix /joint enterprise web. Once a person is trapped in this web their information is passed to all authorities, from school to housing, the police and also, to social services - thus automatically blacklisting them. This, in the long run, prevents them or their families from making great progress on their own terms.
Dr Bell spoke against the labelling of an area as dangerous, as this could be demoralising for children and young people growing up there, because they are stereotyped as "never-do-wells," which has a knock-on effect on their confidence due to the shame of living in an area with a bad reputation.
In a video interview, Manchester MP - Lucy Powell strongly opposed the initiative which was launched by the past Tory government. She stated that it criminalises people unjustly, especially young black men. She also stated that the approach is highly disproportionate against young black people.
Interview with Lucy Powell MP
She said that one way to tackle this problem is for people to ask questions and be informed about the pros and cons of being roped into a gang matrix web - thus enabling individuals or communities understand its inner workings.
Detective Sergeant Jason Green of the Metropolitan Police highlighted the need to end mistrust of the establishment, and dig deep to find root causes to facilitate change.
Raymond Bell opined that it is important to see people and not colour, with a view to change the narrative encouraging support structure.
Wazin Choudry suggested equal opportunities when it comes to education.
Amnesty International who found the Joint Enterprise law highly inappropriate and discriminatory, set up an online petition which gathered thousands of signatures to get the Mayor of London to dismantle the Gang Matrix and Joint Enterprise Laws.