Young Victims of Crime

Oxfordshire County Council supports a very successful project supporting young people who become victims of crime, which is called SAFE!. As part of the recovery process, young people are offered one to one sessions with an adult, so that they can work together on ideas about how they can regain their confidence and start to feel safe again. Some young people have produced creative work about their thoughts and experiences to support the project which you can see here.

This song, “Escape”, was written specially for the project by a young person, Alex Grew who performed it at the launch of SAFE! last year. Upcoming band South Parade recorded the song with Carl Duringer.

	People can feel alone and afraid by Jenny Young people who are victims of crime worry about being taking seriously or who to talk to. Support is available if someone has committed a crime against you.
	What will happen now? by Jake After being a victim of street crime, young people can find that they are worried when they are out on their own. Practical information about things like personal safety can help you feel more confident.
	Nasty messages may not be the same as punches but they are still bullying by Eloise, Jenny, and Bella Cyberbullying involves using phone messages and internet sites to victimise someone. The focus of last year's anti-bullying week competition was cyberbullying
	Bullying is hard to hide from by Jenny and Bella One of the most common crimes committed against children and young people is bullying. Many people worry about reporting bullies. Find out what you can do if you're being bullied.

These pictures are also used to illustrate a book called Are You OK? : A Practical Guide to Helping Young
Victims of Crime by Pete Wallis, which has been published on behalf of SAFE! to help professionals who are supporting young victims of crime. If you would like more information about SAFE!, or a copy of the book, contact: peter.wallis@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Are you affected by crime?

If you're worried about crime, or about the safety of someone you know, there's lots of practical information in the Online Survival Guide, about things like personal safety, keeping safe when you're out, as well as information about specific crimes like bullying, domestic violence , and abuse, as well as a page about being a victim of crime:

• Information and advice for if you are a victim of crime in the online Survival Guide
• Childline : for any child or young person in distress (external link)
• Send in your own responses to the topic