This briefing was prepared ahead of the General Debate on knife crime. Child Criminal Exploitation is a form of child abuse, and can involve children being coerced into carrying, supplying and concealing knives and other weapons, among other forms of criminal activity.
Exploiters and organised criminal gangs (OCGs) are utilising the cost-of-living crisis to exploit and coerce children and young people. Child criminal exploitation is misunderstood by professionals, which prevents the early identification of child victims. Too often, child victims of exploitation are criminalised rather than appropriately safeguarded, something which exploiters and OCGs anticipate and utilise to their advantage.
Youth services play a vital role in tackling serious youth violence and child criminal exploitation, however they are not appropriately invested in. In the past 10 years, funding in youth services has been cut by £1.1 billion. For children who have been exploited, accessing a specialist support service is a postcode lottery, leaving children without the necessary support to help them process their trauma and escape the cycle of abuse and exploitation.
Barnardo’s, alongside a coalition of children’s charities led by the NSPCC, is calling on the Government to take action for child victims of exploitation through the Victims and Prisoners Bill.