Academic Insight
HM Inspectorate of Probation has just (25 July 2024) published the latest in its Academic Insights series. The new report, produced by Dr Nina Maxwell, examines service responses to child criminal exploitation. It includes suggestions for more effective multi-agency working and highlights the importance of professional’s building trust and creating safe spaces for children.
Context
Dr Maxwell starts by outlining how 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. She notes that in practice, many children receive a criminal justice rather than a child protection response.
Manipulation
Dr Maxwell describes how the manipulative techniques used to exploit young people ensure they are unaware of the exploiters’ true motives:
“Once someone’s, you know, giving you certain things and telling you you’re good when you’ve been told you’re shit at school and you’re no good, it’s easy to build that sort of, yes, that feeling of being part of something and feeling important and respected by an adult”.
Young people report being drawn into what they perceived to be a relationship with someone they thought they could trust. They may be taken out for food or days out to establish the relationship and the notion that the exploiter is looking out for the young person. These types of exchange trick young people into thinking these individuals are their friends. Consequently, young people may not see the relationship as unhealthy, making the early signs of criminal exploitation challenging to identify.
Critically, the methods used to establish the relationships are then used to coerce or force young people into embarking upon criminal behaviours. The most common form of control cited was debt bondage, where young people unwittingly fell into debt to the exploiter through three main routes:
- as part of the initial relationship building stage, they were given drugs, and as the relationship developed, it was suggested they should do something in return to repay this debt
- young people were ‘mugged’ by the exploiter and found themselves responsible for replacing the lost money
- when police confiscate drugs, young people must work off this debt.
Irrespective of how the debt occurred, high rates of tax were applied so that the young people were unable to repay the money they owed. This left them trapped within the exploitative relationship, leading to feelings of hopelessness and desperation as they were forced into a world where ‘victimisation, violence and competition for distinction is normal’.
Service responses
Dr Maxwell shows how current service responses to child criminal exploitation are hindered by structural and systemic factors. A key reason for this is that statutory safeguarding services were not designed to address extrafamilial harm. Criminally exploited young people are more likely to be treated as criminals to be prosecuted rather than victims to be protected. The infographic I have reproduced below shows the main barriers to high-quality services:
A multi-agency response
Dr Maxwell demonstrates the importance of a multi-agency response. Drawing on the work of the Manchester Safeguarding Partnership, she describe the concept of “complex safeguarding” addresses risk from peers, partners, or other adults that occurs in community spaces or online through social media. This requires a shared mission to develop and target services’ responses to extrafamilial harm, the ability to work with fluctuating levels of risk to the young person, and the ability to develop interventions and approaches that are nonlinear or not time limited.
She then turns to the Complex Safeguarding Wales toolkit which is underpinned by five key principles:
- Adoption of a Child First, safeguarding approach.
- Child-focused so that the young person’s needs are identified and addressed.
- Delivered in the community to young people and their families.
- Aimed at prevention, early intervention, and diversion.
- Able to include parents as a resource rather than a risk, where safe to do so.
The report explains that adopting a strengths-based, child-centred, child rights approach is particularly important given that exploitation removes the young person’s control over their own life. The manipulation and coercion they experience can undermine the positive relationships in their lives and make them distrustful of professionals. Therefore, young people may be unwilling to engage due to fear of being taken into care, of being arrested, or seen as a snitch with potentially violent consequences from the people exploiting them.
This places the onus on professionals to work
with young people to establish trust and to create safe spaces for them to share their experiences. Professionals also need to stay with young people and understand that safely moving away from exploitative relationships may take time, especially where young people are losing their only friendship group.
It is clear that local strategies and substantial resourcing for local partnerships are key to tackling the criminal exploitation of children.
