By Nina Maxwell  

  Child criminal exploitation is a national priority in the UK. According to Home Office (2024) figures, there were 3,123 referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for child criminal exploitation in the year ending December 2023. These figures exclude young people who have not been identified as victims and therefore, the actual number of young people affected by criminal exploitation is likely to be much higher. Safeguarding young people from exploitation falls within the roles and responsibilities of youth justice services, while also recognising that child criminal exploitation is a complex, cross-cutting issue. In practice, many children receive a criminal justice rather than a child protection response. The Jay Review, Shattered Lives. Stolen Futures (2024), highlighted variations across agencies in their responses to criminally exploited young people, adding that this is due to the lack of a universal definition of child criminal exploitation in the UK and that there is a need for improvements to service responses. With no statutory definition, many professionals adopt the UK Government’s definition which states that child criminal exploitation occurs: ‘…where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity (a) in exchange for something the victim needs or wants, and/or (b) for the financial or other advantage of the perpetrator or facilitator and/or (c) through violence or the threat of violence. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears consensual. Child criminal exploitation does not always involve physical contact; it can also occur through the use of technology’ (HM Government, 2018) However, this definition lacks clarity. For example, The Children’s Society (2019) found that frontline workers focused on tangible forms of ‘exchange’ rather than subtler forms where young people were enticed into relationships through a sense of belonging or protection. Consideration of exchange should be extended to include the prevention of something negative such as threats or actual violence to the young person or their family. In a study of child criminal exploitation in Wales, Maxwell and Wallace (2021) found that inconsistencies in service responses were exacerbated by the challenges in identifying child criminal exploitation; there is rarely a single piece of evidence or concern that signifies that a young person is being exploited. Young people may be found with visible evidence of their criminal behaviour and the way child criminal exploitation manifests varies according to the local context, service responses, and actors (Harding, 2020). In an English study, Harding (2020) described how a London-based group moved from a commuting model, commonly known as county lines (see Academic Insights paper 2021/01 by Pitts), to the implementation of satellite hubs so they could retain control over additional geographical areas. In Wales, Maxwell and Wallace (2021) found three forms of child criminal exploitation: • County Lines exploitation • Blurred Lines exploitation • Intra-familial exploitation.

Their interview findings with 56 professionals across statutory and third sector agencies revealed a tendency to associate child criminal exploitation with County Lines exploitation where young people were trafficked into Wales from England. Professionals seldom associated child criminal exploitation with young people affected by Blurred Lines, where young people were exploited and trafficked across Wales by local groups who mimic strategies adopted by county lines groups, or young people exploited by family members or other adults within the local community. Rather, Blurred Lines and exploitation from family members tended to be perceived as the young person’s ‘lifestyle choice’ and, as such, they were deemed culpable for their actions. Young people cannot consent to being forced into criminality or to be abused or trafficked (Home Office, 2023). Safeguarding them from child criminal exploitation requires both an understanding of how young people are affected and the extent to which community and service level factors protect them from exploitation and re-exploitation. Drawing largely on Maxwell’s studies of child criminal exploitation over the last four years, this paper considers the barriers and facilitators to an effective approach. 

 Academic Insights 2024/04

Manchester, UK: HM Inspectorate of Probation, 2024. 15p.