Karyn McCluskey, Director, Scottish Violence Reduction Unit.
Karyn McCluskey has worked in the police for the last 20 years in Sussex,Lancashire, West Mercia, as head of intelligence analysis. She joined Strathclyde Police 10 years ago as and was responsible for setting up the intelligence function. In 2004 she and John Carnochan wrote the report on Violence Reduction for Strathclyde police proposing a different way of addressing violence in Scotland.
'Dealing with Ambiguity - How can I be sure'?
Scotland's ambition is to be "the best place in the world to bring up your kids". The violence reduction strategy and work, is one of the foundations of this aspiration becoming a reality, focussing on early years, and broader prevention.
We know that the gap between strategy and activity is often wide, and the complexity of some of the issues we face often overwhelm us and inhibit us from taking action for fear of failure. Further, the way that we operate as agencies and organisations can seem feeble in the face of the challenges of 21st century UK. I am going to discuss what I have learned in tackling violence as an 'infection' and how to prevent it. I will look at 'failure analysis' as a way of improving our service, and about creating the 'mood music' in people and organisations around trying unusual and innovative approaches to making delivering a better place for our children.
2. โOf all the small nations of this
earth, perhaps only the ancient
Greeks surpass the Scots in
their contribution to mankind.โ
Sir Winston Churchill
3. If you torture data sufficiently, it
will confess to almost
anything.
F.Menger.
4. United Nations Peace Monitor
โข DEATHS BY VIOLENCE PER 100,000:
โข 1. SPAIN/GREECE 1.3
โข 10. MALTA 2.5
โข 11 ICELAND 2.6
โข 13. CANADA 2.7
โข 16 NORTHERN IRELAND 3.5
โข 22 ENGLAND AND WALES 4.2
โข 29 ROMANIA 5.1
โข 37 ALBANIA 6.2
โข 40 SCOTLAND 7.3
โข 42 UNITED STATES 7.9
โข 44 ISRAEL 8.3
โข 77. COLOMBIA 77.1
6. โข The challenges we face converge,
intertwine and often remain largely
beyond our understanding. Most of us
suspect that the โexpertsโ donโt really
know whatโs going on and that as a
species weโve released forces that are
neither managed nor manageable.โ
โ Thomas Homer-Dixon (Paper by Prof Phil Hanlon
University of Glasgow 2009)
13. If you give people a choice
between tough or soft policing
theyโll choose tough.
If itโs the choice between
tough or smart policing โ
theyโll choose smart.
15. Primary Prevention
Key Prevention Strategies
1.Developing safe and stable
relationships&
2.Developing life and social
skills&
3.Challenging cultural and
social norms that support
violence
4.Reducing access to lethal
means
5.Reducing availability and
harmful use of alcohol
20. Reducing risk factors for violence
Youth
Violence
Intimate
Partner
Child
Abuse
Elder
Abuse
Sexual
Violence
Increased access to pre and
post natal care
Home visiting programmes
Parenting programmes
Social development
training for children
Child abuse victim
treatment programmes
Training health staff to
identify / refer victims
Alcohol / drug use
reduction strategies
22. OPINION:
We need to jail those we are afraid of,
and not those we are mad at.
Rather have mandatory programmes than
mandatory sentencing.
23. NEWS
Radical change in the design and delivery of public services is
necessary to tackle the deep-rooted social problems that
persist in communities across the country
FLASH!
28. Risk Mitigation in Innovation
โข Empathy โ deep connection and
understanding of the people you are trying
to serve.
โข Prototyping โ development of solution โ so
โfailureโ becomes something that is
learning thatโs built on quickly.
โข Openness โ transparency and openness
allow for quick understanding of problem.
30. Leadership on the line
โข Leaders need to have the stomach for
conflict, ambiguity and uncertainty.
โข Holding steady in an adaptive context is
critical.
โข Set the โmood musicโ - This is more than
running an organisation its about making
children and young peopleโs lives safer.
31. โข Political Will โ attitudinal and ideological
readiness to bring down violence โ may be far
more important than the choice of concrete
means to achieve the end.
โข A successful plan will require the key actors โ
health, CJ, Police, prisons etc to commit to
this aim.
โข Information and education โ changing
societyโs view about the nature and causes of
crime and the way ahead.
โข Public opinion and the role of the media โ
engaging them to retain a sober and
reasonable attitude to violence reduction.
โข Constructive Crime prevention alternatives โ if
nothing else is offered, the law and prison will
be used as the primary shield against crime.
32. THE FOCUS TEST:
โข Who are you?_________________
โข What do you do?________________
โข Why does it matter?_______________
33. Theory of Moral Sentiments
โข โHow selfish soever a man may be
supposed, there are evidently some
principles in his nature which interest him
in the fortunes of others and render their
happiness necessary to him, though he
derives nothing from it except the pleasure
of seeing it.โ
Adam Smith
35. Feral pig โdrinks 18 cans of beer, fights cow
and then passes out drunk under treeโ
Editor's Notes
Morning
Delighted
Full of experts
If I am rubbish this morning, donโt tell the other group โ as I can completely change it by the afternoon.
REALISED AS I SAW THE BREATH OF PROGRAMME HOW MANY EXPERTS ARE IN THIS ROOM โ FROM KINSHIP CARE, DOMESTIC ABUSE, DENTAL HEALTH (ONE OF MY FAVOURITE GROUP OF PROFESSIONALS WHOโVE DONE SO MUCH WORK FOR US IN INTERVENING IN ABUSE IN SCOTLAND, SOCIAL PEDAGOGY IN SCOTALDN โ IRN BRU AND HAGGIS?
DEALING WITH AMBIGUITYWE NEED TO TAKE A STEP BACK โ LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE, IN THE MIDST OF THIS FAST PACED, TURBULENT AND TARGET DRIVEN LIFE.
ย
WE DONโT NEED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN REFLECTING AND ACTING โ BUT WE NEED TO DO BOTH โ AT THE SAME TIME โ HAVE THE CLARITY OF KNOWING WHAT TO DO AND WHEN. ALSO THE COURAGE TO SAY โI DONโT KNOWโ
ย
ON MOST DAYS, IF I AM TRUE TO MYSELF ,IโVE DECIDED THAT I SEEM TO BE ABLE TO SIT WITH DISCOMFORT, AND LIVE WITH โNOT KNOWINGโ. I KNOW THAT TO DEAL WITH THE AMBIGUITY THERE ARE TIMES THAT I NEED TO COLLABORATE, TIMES THAT I NEED TO STEP UP, IN OTHER TIMES I NEED TO STEP BACK AND REFLECT โ ENGAGE THOSE MOST AFFECTED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN DECISION MAKING. IN OTHER TIMES โ YOU JUST NEED TO GO FORWARD RELENTLESSLY.
ย
FOR ME. HOLDING THIS AMBIGUITY IS ABOUT WORKING FEROCIOUSLY FOR A BETTER OUTCOME, WITHOUT TAKING MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY. I ACCEPT SCOTLAND AS IT IS โ BUT IโD LIKE TO MAKE IT BETTER AND NOT WORSE. I AM NO IDEALIST โ I CANNOT DO EVERYTHING โ THAT WAY MADNESS LIES.
ADAM SMITH _ empathy is the glue that keeps society together..
BUT WANT YOU TO THINK OF HUME IN THIS CONFERENCE - WHO SAID THAT TRUTH SPRINGS FROM ARGUMENT AMONG FRIENDS โ AND WE ARE ALL FRIENDS HERE, UNITED IN OUR ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE THE LIVES OF THE MOST VULNERABLE, OUR MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY โ NOT OIL, BUT THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE.
SO DEBATE, DISCUSS, DISAGREE AS YOU GO FORWARD โ NO VIOLENCE HOWEVER.โ
IT STRUCK ME ITโS A LITTLE LIKE BOILING A FROG โ WE HAVE BECOME SO USED TO THE REPORTS OF VIOLENCE AND MURDERS, WE HAVE BECOME DESENSITISED. YET WHEN WE HAVE A MURDER, THESE MAMMOTH SHRINES APPEAR TO THE VICTIM (SO MUCH SO WE EVEN HAVE A SHRINE SCENE MANAGEMENT POLICY TO DEAL WITH THEM), SO SOME PEOPLE FEEL OUTRAGED. I WONDERED IF WE COULD CAPITALISE ON THE OUTPOURING OF GRIEF AND PUT UP A PLACARD WHICH SAID โ HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH, COME TO A COMMUNITY MEETING โ DO SOMETHINGโ WHEN I PUT THIS TO SOME OF MY CHURCH COLLEAGUES, THEY SUGGESTED I WAS A LITTLE CRASS.
YET, OVER THE LAST DECADE IN TRYING TO PLAY A SMALL PART IN A MOVEMENT WHERE WE ARE A SAFER, LESS VIOLENT SOCIETY, I REALIZE IF WE ARE TO TRULY CHANGE THINGS AND TO CREATE A BETTER, FAIRER, SAFER PLACE FOR OUR YOUNG AND OLD TO GROW, THEN WE MUST ENVISION A NEW FUTURE. โ and thatโs not about increasingly tougher policing.
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Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and a lot more complexโฆ.it takes a touch of genius โ and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. NOT MY QUOTE.
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So WE DIDNโT USE THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE MODEL in Scotland โ TOO NARROW, TOO PRECRIPTIVE NOT SOLUTION FOCUSSED โ AND IT HAD TAKEN US ONLY SO FARโฆdonโt get me wrong we had great detections, prisons are full. Although Iโm not sure full prisons is how I would measure long term success.
WE HAD 18000 COPS โ 5M PEOPLE โ THE MATHS DOESNโT WORK.
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ARISTOTLE โ POVERTY PARENT OF CRIME.
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BUILDING CRIMINAL JUSTICE CAPACITY FOR 10 15 YEARS HENCE โ THATโS AN ADMISSION THAT WE WILL FAIL THE PRIMARY 1โS IN OUR CLASSROOMS TODAY.
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WE CAN HAVE NO MISPLACEs EMPATHY โ NO COMPASSION FATIGUE โ NO TALK ABOUT โGOOD ENOUGHโ
Diverting young people from going into CJ system has been wonderful in Scotland โ SEEN A DRAMATIC CHANGE more needed but what a change.
Social Capital โ children primary schoolsโฆ.
BYSTANDER โ ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMEN โ EDUCATION โ BUILDING SOCIAL CAPITAL.
In T.S. elliots, in Theย Hollow Men, writes
โBetween the idea.
And the reality.
Between the motion.
And the act.
Falls the shadow.โ
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It is in the shadows that things fail. Where we fail to achieve our goals because we are too fearful of the journey, too risk averse, unsure of our skills, and the most cataclysmic of all the โterror of errorโ
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When Obama was running for presidency in 2007 he talked about the โsmallness of our politicsโ, what he said stayed with me in relation to our journey.
ย
โWhatโs stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. Whatโs stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics โ the ease with which weโre distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.โ
IN A LEADERSHIP ROLE โ WE NEED TO HAVE THE STOMACH FOR CONFLICT, AMBIGUITY AND UNCERTAINTY โ YET STILL HOLD STEADY. WE WILL NEED TO LIVE BY OUR DEEPEST VALUES, LISTEN TO EACH OTHER AND BE CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING. THIS IS TRUE PARTICULARLY IN POLICING, WHEN WE SEEM TO BE INCREASINGLY TARGET DRIVEN.
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SOMETIMES I RATHER LIKE SCARING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF EACH MYSELF AND OTHERS, I THINK THATโS NO BAD THING.
I know Scotland is better now, I know Scotland is safer now, but we are not there yet. Too many lives are still blighted by violence, there can be no complacency. We must keep trying, all of us โ for we are presented with the opportunity to make some real change โ to change the destiny of some of the most excluded in our country and to improve their outcomes and those of their children. This is within our grasp.
Violence reduction has been about people, particularly the most alienated. We interviewed for a work program โ we had a young woman come in โ had been addicted to drugs โ now clean, been many years in prostitution, never been for an interview, covered in self harm marks โ we asked that old interview staple โwhy should we take you?โ โฆto which she replied โOh, I wouldnโt take meโ โ so we did.
Many of our offenders have children and we know that a high percentage of children of offenders also end up taking the same path. The one think we must do โ is to make it better for the children โ to see their parents fulfilled, happy, part of something, proud โ workingโฆmay start a change โ and thatโs worth doing.
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John Cleese summed it up when he said โIt's not the despair. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand.โ Well, I think we could all do with a little hope.
ALCOHOL โ JUST LIKE THE SLIDE โ OUR NEXT BIG STEP WILL BE TO
WE NEED TO TAKE A STEP BACK โ LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE, IN THE MIDST OF THIS FAST PACED, TURBULENT AND TARGET DRIVEN LIFE.
ย
WE DONโT NEED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN REFLECTING AND ACTING โ BUT WE NEED TO DO BOTH โ AT THE SAME TIME โ HAVE THE CLARITY OF KNOWING WHAT TO DO AND WHEN. ALSO THE COURAGE TO SAY โI DONโT KNOWโ
ย
ON MOST DAYS, IF I AM TRUE TO MYSELF ,IโVE DECIDED THAT I SEEM TO BE ABLE TO SIT WITH DISCOMFORT, AND LIVE WITH โNOT KNOWINGโ. I KNOW THAT TO DEAL WITH THE AMBIGUITY THERE ARE TIMES THAT I NEED TO COLLABORATE, TIMES THAT I NEED TO STEP UP, IN OTHER TIMES I NEED TO STEP BACK AND REFLECT โ ENGAGE THOSE MOST AFFECTED BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN DECISION MAKING. IN OTHER TIMES โ YOU JUST NEED TO GO FORWARD RELENTLESSLY.
ย
FOR ME. HOLDING THIS AMBIGUITY IS ABOUT WORKING FEROCIOUSLY FOR A BETTER OUTCOME, WITHOUT TAKING MYSELF TOO SERIOUSLY. I ACCEPT SCOTLAND AS IT IS โ BUT IโD LIKE TO MAKE IT BETTER AND NOT WORSE. I AM NO IDEALIST โ I CANNOT DO EVERYTHING โ THAT WAY MADNESS LIES.
IN A LEADERSHIP ROLE โ WE NEED TO HAVE THE STOMACH FOR CONFLICT, AMBIGUITY AND UNCERTAINTY โ YET STILL HOLD STEADY. WE WILL NEED TO LIVE BY OUR DEEPEST VALUES, LISTEN TO EACH OTHER AND BE CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING. THIS IS TRUE PARTICULARLY IN POLICING, WHEN WE SEEM TO BE INCREASINGLY TARGET DRIVEN.
ย
SOMETIMES I RATHER LIKE SCARING THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF EACH MYSELF AND OTHERS, I THINK THATโS NO BAD THING.
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