The current government anti-terror law is called “CONTEST” it focuses on four P’s to:
‘Pursue – to stop terrorist attacks
Prepare – where we cannot stop an attack, to mitigate its impact
Protect – to strengthen our overall protection against terrorist attacks
Prevent – to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent
extremists’
What is “The prevent strategy?”
History
The prevent strategy, launched in 2007, seeks to prevent people becoming terrorists or supporting them. The strategy is the government’s response to the threat of terrorism from “violent extremists”. It was altered in 2011 as the old procedure “failed to confront the extremist ideology at the heart of the threat we face; and in trying to reach those at risk of radicalisation, funding sometimes reached the very extremist organizations that Prevent should have been confronting.”
What it’s about
To respond to the threat of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda the government developed CONTEST-a counter-terrorism strategy.
The prevent strategy, launched in 2007, was re-focused in 2011, the new objectives are to:
• respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism and the threat from those who promote it
• prevent people from being drawn into terrorism and ensure that they are given appropriate advice and support
• work with sectors and institutions including education, criminal justice, faith, charities, mosques, the internet and health where there are “risks of radicalisation.”
The prevent strategy works with partnerships and community projects to try and prevent people from becoming vulnerable to violent extremist views. The scheme engages with universities to prevent students from going down the route towards becoming terrorists or violent extremists. The strategy stops people from accessing certain literature and certain speakers from coming to talk to people.
How it will affect YOU
The prevent strategy will affect you-the youth as:
• The policy targets the youth as they are “vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.”
• According to the prevent strategy there are very few people willing to support terrorism but the numbers are “significantly greater amongst young people”.
• A police-led initiative to classify individuals at risk of being recruited as terrorists has intervened to help 1,120 people, 55 of whom were aged under 11 and 260 under 16.
• Prevent activity has involved approaching doctors and university lecturers to help identify “violent extremists”.
• The strategy is also being carried out on university campuses “at risk of radicalizing activity”, stopping access to certain literature, encouraging them to be aware of potential extremist preaching and to keep a close watch on the Muslim students.
Young Radicals 