The East Sussex Habitual Knife Carriers (HKC) Programme, also known as the STAR Programme, aimed to change the behaviour of a current, active cohort of young people who have previously been identified as knife carriers and divert them and their associates/local peer groups away from future knife carrying and other criminal activity. The HKC Programme was led by the East Sussex Youth Justice Service in collaboration with Sussex Police, Children’s Services, the local detached youth work team and the Youth Employability Service (YES).
In Summer 2022, NCB was commissioned by VRP to undertake a process and impact evaluation of the Programme. The aims were to: a) understand how and why participants achieve outcomes; b) evidence the short-term outcomes achieved and the long-term impacts of the interventions, and; c) provide recommendations for the future delivery and evaluation of the intervention.