Youth violence and gang crime will continue unabated unless outreach workers from culturally diverse backgrounds are employed virtually immediately, a summit has heard.
A Melbourne summit into the crisis has heard how cultural difficulties can lead to truancy, expulsions and ultimately crime.
Abselom Nega emigrated from Africa over 20 years ago and today addressed a forum of experts at a Melbourne school.
He says the problem of youth and gang violence can be addressed by appointing culturally experienced teaching aids to bridge the education shortfall.
"Because they come from refugee camps where there was no school, they either come from no schooling or a disrupted schooling system," he said.
Detective Superintendent Pat Boyle is completing a thesis on just that issue.
He also worked on the now defunct Victoria Police Asian Squad.
He's currently completing a thesis on what defines gangs and gang culture in Australia, comparing and contrasting that to the situation in the United States.
"They've come there and really the social systems aren't in place to support them and there are other things in place which they then use to support themselves and that's being together and forming a ganga for protection," Mr Boyle said.
Youth worker Les Twentyman works on the streets of Melbourne's west, and is leading the push for more teaching aids and outreach workers citing a disturbing statistic.
"Eighty percent of our prison population left school pre-year-ten. If you haven't got an education the only way you're going to make money these days is basically fall into the drug culture stuff".
Experts also say Outreach workers would also cut truancy which is also linked to youth crime.
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