But after he met someone working every day with young people, in the shape of Derby's Baby J, he was left with food for thought on the subject, and ordered his staff to get more details and keep in touch with the campaigner.
Baby J owns a recording studio in Arthur Street which runs evening workshops for teenagers.
He believes violence such as that which led to the death of teenager Kadeem Blackwood, could be cut if more activities were provided for youngsters.
When Mr Brown sat at his table at a specially arranged meeting of the Cabinet at the Albert Hall Conference Centre, Baby J asked him: "Why are there no activities or funding that actually help the poorest young people in my city when £500,000 of local police money was spent on policing a racist BNP festival down the road in our county?"
His question caught the ear of the leader, who even referred to his conversation with Baby J when he addressed a conference afterwards.
And he answered his questioned by saying: "We have a range of projects around the country which put on positive activities for young people and we are about to announce a programme of youth centres around the country which will be paid for by assets of pension funds."
Mr Brown asked Baby J what the Government could do to support music projects such as his.
Baby J made clear to Mr Brown that youngsters should be offered activities they were interested in.
"There are community centres in every area but young people don't go because they are closed after 7pm or in the holidays and when they are open there is nothing in there that interests them," Baby Jay said. "It wouldn't take a lot of money to get music systems in them.
"It is about finding out from the community what youngsters want rather than imposing stuff on them from outside."
His comments attracted the attention of other Cabinet ministers, including work and pensions minister Yvette Cooper, who shared a table with Baby J and other Derby Telegraph readers.
Cabinet Office staff promised to be in touch with Baby J within a matter of weeks to find out more from him about what he believes can steer youngsters away from crime and anti-social behaviour.
Baby J may have started to sway the politicians, but they will have to do more to convince him.
"When I left Derby to speak to the Prime Minister there were children in the city with no prospects," he said.
"When I go back to Derby, there will still be youngsters with no prospects.
"I know the politicians have done a lot of listening, but I will start to have faith when something is actually done, when they get the local authority to spend money where it is needed or change policies."
Baby J was one of four Derby Telegraph readers who got to share a table with the Prime Minister.
Shokat Lal, chairman of Derby's Muslim Forum, had the chance to quiz the PM about the war in Afghanistan.
He said: "There is a problem of those extremists within Derby using the war in Afghanistan as a hook to get people involved in extremist activities. How is the war in Afghanistan making the UK a more safe and secure place?"
Mr Brown said: "We have traced back most terrorists back to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Three quarters of the terrorist incidents we have had to deal with started in Pakistan and were organised in Pakistan and Al-Qaida is the source."
But Mr Lal challenged Mr Brown, saying: "I fear we are not keeping an eye on our own backyard and what's going on here. There are people trying to prevent extremism but extremists are using the war as a hook."
Afterwards, Mr Lal said he was disappointed with the response.
"I feel there is a short sightedness and he failed to recognised the impact the war is having in the UK," he said.
But the Cabinet members did manage to change the views of one Derby Telegraph reader.
When Bernard Dean spotted Justice Secretary Jack Straw waiting to go into the conference, he was clear he would challenge him on the issue of getting compensation for mesothelioma victims like himself from insurance companies.
He felt Mr Straw had failed to do anything towards that aim, despite previously being interested in the issue.
So when Mr Straw sat down next to Mr Dean, the Sandiacre resident asked him what the Government was doing to help mesothelioma victims get compensation if they could not find the insurer of the company that exposed them to asbestos.
Mr Straw said: "I have been looking at this very carefully. One of the things we are looking at is getting insurers to agree to a register so they are on a database.
"The other thing is looking to create a pool of funds out of payments into insurance companies so that when there is a problem of identifying the company responsible, the money can be used out of that pool."
Mr Dean also raised his concerns with Mr Brown, who lost a colleague, Scottish MP John MacDougall, to the disease last year.
Mr Brown said: "We are looking at this issue at this very moment. Any attempt to deny liability, which happens, is unacceptable."
Mr Dean was pleased with the response.
"This has totally changed my view. I was impressed with Gordon Brown and especially Jack Straw who really listened.
"They have said they are looking at this issue and seemed to grasp the points I was making straight away so now I'm looking forward to something being done to help other victims of this disease."
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