Beyond PREVENT: A Real Alternative To Securitised Policies (Report)

Following the widespread condemnation of the PREVENT policy and the subsequent launch of an ‘independent review’, widely recognised as being a ‘whitewash’, CAGE is offering a tangible, and practical way forward beyond PREVENT.
The Beyond PREVENT report outlines clear actions that provide a framework that will help Britain foster healthy and safe societies, without antagonising communities.
The key principle for peaceful co-existence core to the paper is the need to move away from securitised approaches and policy, both locally and internationally.
- This report is a challenge and carefully thought-out response to former Security Minister Ben Wallace’s statement: “Whenever I hear people criticise Prevent and I ask, “Okay, what would you do?”, they just describe Prevent, and they come back to the bit about the Prevent brand being tainted”;
- 95% of PREVENT referrals are false positives on the programme’s own terms, requiring no further intervention – proof that the policy is ineffective and toxic, and does not need a mere ‘review’ or ‘improvement’.
- The notion of improving PREVENT only lends itself to a dead-end discussion that ends with PREVENT or PREVENT-like policy solutions.
In contrast, the Beyond PREVENT paper:
- Offers solutions based on structural and policy changes, to the root causes of violence;
- Overwhelming calls for building healthy, safe societies without securitisation around beliefs and behaviour;
- Provides an excellent opportunity to break the impasse on PREVENT with new innovative thinking; and