International Journal on Science and Technology

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Volume 17 Issue 3
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Prevent under CONTEST: A Critical Evaluation of its Purpose, Practice, and Reform in the United Kingdom

Author(s) ABDALLAH UWIHOREYE
Country United Kingdom
Abstract This paper critically evaluates the Prevent strand of the United Kingdom’s CONTEST counter-terrorism strategy by examining its purpose, implementation, effectiveness, and prospects for reform. Using a qualitative documentary analysis, the study draws on government policy documents, Prevent and Channel guidance, official statistics, independent reviews, civil society reports, and peer-reviewed literature to assess whether Prevent achieves its stated objective of preventing individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The findings indicate that Prevent has evolved from a community-based initiative into a statutory, multi-agency safeguarding framework embedded across education, healthcare, prisons, and local government. While evidence suggests that early intervention through Channel has supported some vulnerable individuals, the program's overall effectiveness remains difficult to determine because of limited long-term outcome data and a high proportion of referrals that do not progress to Channel support. The analysis also identifies persistent concerns regarding false positives, disproportionate impacts on Muslim communities, the expansion of pre-criminal surveillance, and tensions between national security objectives and the protection of civil liberties. Competing evaluations, including the Shawcross Review, the People’s Review of Prevent, and the Independent Commission on UK Counter-Terrorism Law, Policy, and Practice, demonstrate continuing disagreement over Prevent’s legitimacy, evidence base, and future direction. The paper concludes that, although Prevent has potential value as an early intervention mechanism, its long-term credibility and effectiveness depend on greater transparency, stronger empirical evaluation, clearer risk thresholds, enhanced community trust, and reforms that better balance security, safeguarding, and fundamental rights.
Field Sociology > Intelligence / Security
Published In Volume 17, Issue 3, July-September 2026
Published On 2026-08-15
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Crossref DOI prefix of IJSAT is 10.71097/IJSAT

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