Youth Violence.. Not My Problem? - Craig Pinkney TEDxBrum (2016)

Video games and hip hop music often take the rap for inciting violence in the young, but urban youth specialist and lecturer Craig Pinkney knows that is far from the whole story. Craig shares his experience in engaging disaffected and violent youth, going beyond systems to find the root causes. He also calls for this to move from ‘not my problem’, to an issue with much greater community support. Craig Pinkney is a Criminologist, Urban Youth Specialist, Lecturer and Director of Real Action UK - a charitable outreach organisation based in Birmingham who specialise in working with disaffected youth. Notable projects include: ‘Don’t Get Gassed’ a national anti-knife crime campaign which has over 50,000 views on Youtube. Craig is well-known for working with some of the cities most challenging young people, potentially high-risk offenders, victims of gang violence and youth who are deemed as hard to reach. Through mentoring, discussion, advocacy, sport, media, film and faith-based interventions, he believes giving a platform to young people will raise attainment and promote positive social change. Craig also lectures full time at University College Birmingham, specialising in youth violence, urban street gangs, extremism, trauma and black men’s desistance, and is part of the EU Gangs Project. To contact Craig Pinkney: Website: www.craigpinkney.com Twitter: @RealActionUK LinkedIn: Craig Pinkney