Crucial opportunities to safeguard the victims of child criminal exploitation are being missed, warns a new report from the Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ) – the result of siloed working and poor information sharing, alongside low levels of professional awareness and ‘harmful victim-perpetrator binaries’.
This is especially the case when young people turn 18, says the report, creating a ‘cliff edge’ in safeguarding and support as the criteria for being seen as a victim ‘suddenly’ shift. ‘Exploitation does not end at 18, but safeguarding and support often do,’ it states.
The report, which was funded by the Barrow Cadbury Trust, is based on consultation with legal professionals, academics, civil servants and others and comes as the crime and policing bill – which contains a specific new standalone child criminal exploitation offence with a maximum ten-year prison term – makes its way through Parliament.
Although child criminal exploitation can take a range of forms it most commonly refers to county lines activities, and while awareness has grown the responses remain inconsistent and are frequently punishment-led, the report points out. Police are driving young people into the criminal justice system when they ‘focus on the offence and fail to fully investigate and identify exploitation’, it adds. Senior-level police and specialist county lines teams now have improved knowledge and practice, the report acknowledges, but the expertise remains disjointed, with street-level officers having ‘patchy and variable understandings about vulnerability to exploitation’ and their handling of cases still often shaped by initial judgements.
Official Home Office figures estimate that around 14,500 children are at risk of, or involved in, child criminal exploitation, although the department acknowledges that this is ‘likely to be a significant underestimate’. Those most at risk of exploitation by county lines gangs are teenage boys – who are often trapped into drug dealing by debt bondage or threats of violence – with a University of Nottingham report from 2021 finding that county lines activity was becoming increasingly associated with extreme violence and sexual exploitation.
The AYJ report calls for a cross-government task force to be established to tackle policy silos and ensure effective multi-agency working, alongside sustainable voluntary sector support for young people to provide ‘trusted, long-term relationships into adulthood’. Police, prosecutors and courts need to be supported to recognise the continued vulnerability of young adults, it says, and ensure that safeguarding and support extends past 18 with a ‘distinct, developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed approach’. Authorities also need to be aware of the ‘complex exploitative dynamics’ at play, it stresses, with the new child criminal exploitation offence accompanied by statutory guidance and appropriate training.
‘Too often, turning 18 means safeguarding ends while exploitation continues — and young adults are punished as perpetrators instead of recognised as victims,’ said AYJ chief executive Jess Mullen. ‘At its worst, this results in a young person being seen and treated as exploited one day, and as an exploiter the next, simply because they have turned 18. This is a fundamental failure of safeguarding and justice. With a new offence of child criminal exploitation on the horizon, this is a key moment for change. A distinct trauma-informed approach that recognises their developmental needs is required for criminally exploited young adults. Safeguarding must come first and beyond a young person’s 18th birthday, so that children and young people are supported into safe and positive futures.’
Exploited to exploiter? Preventing the unjust criminalisation of victims of child criminal exploitation in the transition to adulthood available here