Peterlee audience presses Question Time panel on crime and youth services

An audience debate in Peterlee put crime, policing and youth services under scrutiny after a questioner said he was worried about seemingly lawless areas becoming part of everyday life.

Maurice Goldsborough, speaking from the front row, said he was extremely concerned about public order and the growth of lawless areas. He listed shoplifting, reckless use of electric bikes and youth intimidation as problems that were becoming normal. He asked what each party would do to bring law and order back to the streets.

The host set out regional context. The North East has a crime rate 17% above the England average, he said, while the area covered by Cleveland Police is 48% above average and has seen high-profile crimes. The host then invited panel members and the audience to respond.

One panelist, Kevin, said he was not a politician but pointed to violence, sexual offences, criminal damage, anti-social behaviour and arson as significant problems. He argued that enforcement and better police funding mattered, and said police forces in the North East had often been forgotten. But he also asked why young people were involved, saying many felt they had no hope, opportunities or jobs. He said a friend's grandmother was terrified of electric bikes, and that more police and funding should be paired with redirecting young people. He added that serious crime is way down and fraud is up, but anti-social behaviour remains a threat. He described a Co-op locking its doors the previous night because staff saw three usual shoplifters and expected police not to come.

Another panelist, Annabel, said she had sympathy with those comments but warned against turning perpetrators into victims and said the real victims of crime must be remembered. She blamed the decriminalisation of low-level offences and chronic underinvestment across the criminal justice system. Police funding fell by more than 20% in real terms during the core austerity years, she said, and courts and prisons had not been invested in adequately. The prison estate was running at about 98% capacity. She said the state had to be more heavy-handed and society had to acknowledge causes such as family breakdown, single-parent families and young mothers struggling. She called for a more credible deterrent, more neighbourhood beats and foot patrols, enforcement of public space protection orders, a crackdown on anti-social behaviour, seizure of illegal bikes and a ban on balaclavas. At present, she said, the assumption is that people can skirt the law and get away with it.

Audience members pushed the debate towards youth provision and deprivation. One woman said more foot patrols and police were welcome, but young people also needed places to go. She said the age at which people become involved in crime is getting younger and the situation is getting scarier, and called for government-funded social places and youth centres where young people can have fun without harming others.

Another audience member challenged the idea that offenders are not victims. They said many people in prison have experienced trauma, and with reoffending at almost 30%, prisons are not doing what they are supposed to do. They said the causes needed to be tackled in the first place. Another audience member described living in a neighbourhood among the most deprived in the UK and argued that investing in the rougher parts of towns could cut crime, because young people may want work but lack opportunities. A younger audience member said they rarely leave home and did not see much crime themselves, but many people on their streets are affected. They described a lack of a third space for teenagers, who are criticised whether they gather outside or stay indoors on their phones.

The discussion stopped short of a single solution. Panelists and audience members agreed on more policing, better youth services and action on deprivation, but differed over how much to focus on enforcement, punishment and the causes of crime. The host announced that the programme would be in Brecon the following week and Scunthorpe the week after.