Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism, and so operates in what is known as the ‘non-criminal space’. In other words, these are mostly vulnerable people who have not committed a crime and will not be criminalised by engaging with Prevent. Rather, this means our approach to supporting these vulnerable individuals is through existing safeguarding practices.
The overwhelming majority of cases that are referred to Prevent are younger people between the ages of 13 and 29, with a quarter below the age of 16. The Channel programme has been implemented to offer multi-agency support interventions, similar to those used in other areas of concern such as anti-social behaviour, gangs activity, drug abuse etc. that help an individual vulnerable to violent extremism build resistance to narratives of hatred and violence and therefore reduce the harm they may cause to themselves or others.
It is often the case that people vulnerable to extremism are already engaged with other local agencies because of existing concerns or social problems and a multi-agency approach can be implemented to offer a wider support structure of interventions.
If you have concerns you can make a referral through your Prevent Engagement Team or your Local Safeguarding Children Boards here: