YWCA England & Wales

what we do

Crime and violence

Some of the most vulnerable young women in society are trapped in a vicious circle of crime, violence and offending. This has to stop.

Women who offend are disproportionately more likely to have been abused or experienced violence. They are over five times more likely to have mental health problems than women in the general population.

Why do young women offend?

Offending is often linked to poverty, disengagement from education, mental health problems, substance misuse, violence, abuse, family breakdown and social exclusion.

Alcohol is often used by young women to mask problems. Alcohol can lead young women to commit crimes, it can aggravate violence and reduce a girl’s ability to judge risky situations.

Girls in gangs are often socially excluded, and are at risk of violence, sexual abuse and being drawn into a downward spiral of increasingly serious crimes. There are very few actual girls’ gangs.

Treatment of young people

Changes are being made to the law to reduce anti-social behaviour. However, young women’s safety has not been made a priority.

Young women have told us they have been moved on from public places to unsafe places where they may be exposed to drugs, attacks or drawn into criminal activity. For some, hanging out in the streets and getting drunk may be easier than being at home.

We want a guarantee that all young people being moved on are taken to a safe place.

What YWCA does

YWCA’s early intervention and prevention helps young women to break the cycle of disadvantage and offending before things get worse.

YWCA is part of the Together women programme, where women get all their support services in one place. We consider each woman’s complete wellbeing: their physical and mental health and drug and alcohol misuse.

Holistic, women-centred support is the most cost-effective method of tackling women’s offending.

We offer education, training, help with housing, finances and family matters. Our women only centres offer a safe environment to talk about violence and abuse, and we compliment this with counselling and life skills.

To read more about young women and offending read our briefings and information sheets.