‘False evidence appearing real’: the evolution of pre-criminal safeguarding for childhood radicalisation in the UK

This article critiques the unique ‘pre-criminal safeguarding’ framework introduced for children by PREVENT – the UK’s counter-terrorism policy and legislation – as one that is anti-child protection. Reviewing the ‘evidence’ within the original turn in policy to address ‘childhood radicalisation’, it proposes that this ‘pre-crime’ focus on identifying children suspected of being at risk of causing future harm through terrorist activity, has implicitly aged, classed, gendered and racialised underpinnings. Utilising research from the time of the PREVENT duty enactment, practitioner insights of the duty’s impact on supporting children and their families in the Liverpool city region are revelatory for understanding how PREVENT’s implicitly biased foundations were reinforced and given life through praxis. ‘False evidence appearing real’ describes not only this problematic suspicion-based praxis but also the practices generating the ‘official statistics’ to this day being presented as ‘evidence’ of the need to implement the PREVENT duty for children.