A COUNCILLOR has warned that more needs to be done to draw Bradford's "young, working class boys" away from lives of crime and violence.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) raised the issue of how many young men fall into cycles of violence and re-offending at a recent meeting of Bradford Council's Corporate Scrutiny Committee.

Councillors were receiving an update from the Bradford Safer Communities Partnership, and heard that the reoffending rate for adults in Bradford was 30.3 per cent and for juveniles it was 45.2 per cent.

The Police recorded 16,324 domestic abuse incidents in Bradford during the 12 months to June 30, which equates to a rate of 30.5 per 1,000 population. This is higher than the West Yorkshire rate of 26.4 per 1,000. Bradford also experienced a 13 per cent increase in the number of domestic abuse incidents over the last year.

Discussing the figures, Cllr Sunderland said: "I think a big issue is young working class boys. A lot of young men in this city live out their lives surrounded by low level violence. And their behaviour towards women is awful, and people's acceptance of that behaviour is terrible."

She referred to a recent story in the Telegraph & Argus that featured a group of young Bradford men who were posting selfies from their prison cells on Facebook. She added: "People were outraged by that, but we have to ask how they got there. Just think what miserable lives are ahead of them now they have criminal records. They won't be able to be a teacher, a pharmacist. This criminal record will follow them round.

"You probably have kids on their way to Armley because their mates have been in touch to say 'come on in, the water's fine.'

"What are we doing about these young, working class men? Years ago there were loads of jobs for young men, plenty of industrial jobs. Now they often feel excluded from their communities.

"What happened to that social contract where you became a man, cared for your wife and raised a kid?"

She spoke of her youth work, and how some young men thought nothing of taking a girl into an ally way, engaging in sex acts and then going home for tea. They think that's acceptable behaviour.

"When you think like that you grow up to think it's ok to bash your wife. The challenge is what can we do to try to tackle that mindset?"

Superintendent Alisa Newman from West Yorkshire Police said: "Research shows that if you live in a home with domestic abuse, if you miss education, then you are more likely to be pointed in a criminal direction.

"Work we have done with the NSPCC shows that low level crime and violence at a young age is more likely to result in sexual offending later in life. It is a real issue we have to deal with."

She pointed to recent funding Bradford was given to work with young people to create "trusted relationships" and hopefully drive them away from crime, domestic abuse and sexual violence.

The committee voted to look at the issue of domestic abuse and how young men fall into lives of crime at future meetings.