The London Anti-Crime Education Scheme was created in 1994 with one sole purpose in mind – to inform and educate young minds of the consequences of choosing to commit crime.

After experiencing 20 years in various penal establishments, Charles Young, the founder of ‘LACES’, has dedicated his life and work to communicating the bleak and harsh reality of a life of crime, with the hope of showing others the futility of wasted years spent in prison.

The principal behind ‘LACES’ is to tutor young people or those at the beginning of a life of crime, and to facilitate the successful reintegration of young offenders back into the community.

As a reformed criminal for the past 13 years, Charles has, with the support of local people, been able to compile an anti-crime educational programme visiting schools, colleges, young offender institutes and other establishments.

Research has shown that people are influenced throughout their lives but especially through their developmental and adolescent years, by a variety of factors. It is these factors that may lead an individual towards or away from crime. Through experiences the family, at school, in the community and at leisure, children and young people can learn the benefits of obeying the law and the costs to themselves and others of not doing so.

Charles Young’s programme shatters the illusion of glamour that can often be attached to crime. Through powerful imagery and raw, brutal honesty, Charles relays the demeaning and degrading reality of the criminal justice system – from arrest, progress through the courts to imprisonment.

Through this early intervention with children and young people at risk of offending, it is hoped that those young people who attend the programme will ideally choose not to offend or reduce their offending in both type and frequency.

As Charles has experienced, crime hurts not only its victims, but blights the lives of the offenders. The costs are enormous. ‘LACES’ is unique in the fact that it focuses solely on the damage and effects which befall the perpetrators of crime. ‘LACES’ wishes to aid and educate children and young people at a crucial point in their lives, and by showing them the true effects, it is hoped that many will take a conscious decision to take a different path.