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Child Criminal Exploitation
What is it?
Criminal Child Exploitation is when a person or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person into part taking in criminal activity.
Often this may be an older friend or acquaintance or a group who uses their age, community status and/or the threat of violence.
It may feel like friendship to start with, but they will be tasked to work for someone and the ‘elders’ will make the big money and the ‘youngers’ will be doing most of the jobs and putting themselves at risk.
A young person may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual.
You may also hear of County Lines, which is a term used to describe young people or adults, who are running/selling drugs for an organised network.
How does this happen?
Being exploited is often a lot more subtle that people realise. This can happen to anyone without them or their parents realising.
This is a Swindon-based and produced film about County Lines, showing you what exploitation might look like and how young people can be affected.
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A stranger, acquaintance or even friend may approach you or a friend with a view to getting you to commit a crime, to contribute to an illegal money-making scheme, often drug dealing. To lure you in, they might try showing off how much money they earn and even offer gifts such as trainers, money or protection through the connection you have to them.
Exploiters will develop and intensify the relationship. You might be given small jobs as a test like dropping off a bag or holding onto something for another group member. This is a way of building up your confidence and connection to the group. They may even attempt to cut you off from your existing friends.
This is when your involvement could involve higher risk taking, like dealing drugs, burglary, thefts and/or threatening or assaulting others. You could even be answering phone messages all day and night, as you’d be expected to be available to the group 24/7. They might start offering money, but the risks to your safety will have dramatically increased.
By now you would likely be under a lot of stress and be fearful of criminal charges, rival groups and possibly even fearful of your own peer group, especially if you’ve witnessed members being violent or are aware of them carrying weapons. You may now think that you need to stay part of the group for protection.
What signs do I need to look out for?
If you spot any of the following signs within yourself or a friend, you/they could be in danger:
- Going missing
- Unexplained gifts including money, trainers, clothing, phones
- Glued to their phone constantly taking calls or answering texts, or having several mobile phones
- Have become friends with new or older people and dropping existing friends
- Becoming secretive around their personal life or mobile phone
- Unexplained injuries
- Stopping attending school or a significant drop in grades
- A change in emotional wellbeing
What can I do if I suspect someone I know is being exploited?
Tell a trusted adult that you can talk too, so they can ensure the necessary steps are taken to keep you and your friends safe.
Or you can report directly to the police using the online reporting tool. If a crime is taking place or there is an immediate threat to life, always call 999.
If you want to give information about any circumstances but feel that you cannot talk to the police you can visit Fearless where you can give information anonymously.
