Gang Activity, Youth Violence and Criminal Exploitation

Concerns arising from children and young people involvement in gang activity, youth violence and/or child criminal exploitation (CCE) is a real and current problem in Jersey. Addressing the problem of gang involvement is a multi-agency issue, where partnership working and information sharing is crucial to safeguard children and young people who are at risk.

Children and Young People are put at risk by gang activity both through participation in and as victims of gang violence.

Overall, the children who are particularly vulnerable to suffering harm in the gang context are those who are:

• Not involved in gangs, but living in an area where gangs are active, as this can have a negative impact on their ability to be keep safe, stay health, enjoy and achieve the things in their lives they would wish to;
• Not involved in gangs, but at risk of becoming victims of gangs;
• Not involved in gangs but at risk of becoming drawn in, for example, siblings or children of known gang members;
• Gang-involved and at risk of harm through their gang-related activities (e.g. drug supply, weapon use, criminal and sexual exploitation and risk of attack from own or rival gang members).

Victims and offenders are often the same people. When adults treat a young person as just a victim or just an offender, they are not taking into account the complex, cyclical nature of the victim-offender link and the factors that influence young people's lives.

Tackling gang activity, youth violence and/or criminal exploitation is a priority in Jersey. The 
Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Taskforce and Building a Safer Community Framework (BASC) are focused on changing attitudes, on creating safer environments and changing lives for the better for children and young people.

Defining a gang is difficult. They tend to fall into three categories: peer groups, street gangs and organised crime groups (See SPB Organised and Complex Abuse). It can be common for groups of children and young people to gather together in public places to socialise, and although some peer group gatherings can lead to increased antisocial behaviour and low level youth offending, these activities should not be confused with the serious violence of a street gang.

• A street gang - can be described as a durable, street-based group of children who see themselves (and are seen by others) as a discernible group for whom crime and violence is integral to the group's identity. A street gang will engage in criminal activity and violence and may lay claim over territory (not always geographical, it could include an illegal economy territory). The gang will have a form of identity with a hierarchy based on age, physical strength, propensity to violence or older sibling rank. There may be certain rites involving antisocial or criminal behaviour or sex acts in order to become part of the gang. They are in conflict with other similar gangs;
• An organised criminal group - is a group of individuals normally led by adults for whom involvement in crime is for personal gain (financial or otherwise). This involves serious and organised criminality by a core of violent gang members who exploit vulnerable young people and adults. This may also involve the movement and selling of drugs and money across the country, known as 'county lines ‘, because it extends across county boundaries and is coordinated by the use of dedicated mobile phone lines. It is a tactic used by groups or gangs to facilitate the use of vulnerable people or children to sell drugs in an area outside of the area in which they live, which reduces their risk of detection;
• County Lines - There is little evidence of ‘county line’ movement of drugs into Jersey with or without the use of children.” Jersey remains alert to the probability of such linked exploitation and gangs although not operating across boundaries using similar tactics as those who do. The common behaviours of those involved in selling drugs often involves the criminal exploitation of children and young people. Child criminal exploitation, like other forms of abuse and exploitation, is a safeguarding concern and constitutes abuse even if the young person appears to have become involved. Child criminal exploitation is typified by some form of power imbalance in favour of those perpetrating the exploitation and usually involves some form of exchange (e.g. carrying drugs in return for something). The exchange can include both tangible (such as money, drugs or clothes) and intangible rewards (such as status, protection or perceived friendship or affection). Young people who are criminally exploited are at a high risk of experiencing violence and intimidation and threats to family members may also be made. Gangs may also target vulnerable adults and take over their premises to distribute Class A drugs in a practice referred to as ‘cuckooing.’

Young people become indebted to the gang/groups and then exploited in order to pay off debts. Young people who are criminally exploited often go missing. They may have unexplained increases in money or possessions, be in receipt of an additional mobile phone and receive excessive texts or phone calls.

The children targeted in Jersey are across all economic class structure, more often targeted because gangs perceive they are more likely to evade police detection and some children may be as young as 12, although 15 to 16 years old is the most common age range. The young people involved may not recognise themselves as victims of any abuse and can be used to recruit other young people. 
It is important to remember the unequal power dynamic within which this exchange occurs and to remember that the receipt of something by a young person or vulnerable adult does not make them any less of a victim.

If a young person is arrested for drugs offences this should trigger questions about their welfare and they should be considered as victims of child criminal exploitation, rather than as an offender. If a young person is found in Jersey in relation to drug offences, have no local connections and no visible means of being able to travel home they should be considered at risk of child trafficking, (see SPB Modern Slavery and Child Trafficking).

There is a distinction between organised crime groups and street gangs based on the level of criminality, organisation, planning and control. However, there are significant links between different levels of gangs, for example street gangs can be involved in drug dealing on behalf of organised criminal groups. Young men and women may be at risk of sexual exploitation in these groups, (see SPB Child Sexual Exploitation).

Children may be involved in more than one 'gang', with some cross-border movement, and may not stay in a 'gang' for significant periods of time. Children rarely use the term 'gang', instead they used terms such as 'family', 'breddrin', 'crews', 'cuz' (cousins), 'my boys' or simply 'the people I grew up with'.

Safeguarding should focus on both young people who are /vulnerable of making the transition to gang involvement as well as those already involved in gangs. Practitioners should be aware of particular risks to young people involved in gangs from violence and weapons, drugs and sexual exploitation. The Continuum of Children’s Needs provides practitioners with clear direction and advice about what to do and how to respond if a child and family need extra help and support. It also includes information regarding the criteria, including the level of need, for when a child should be referred to the Children and Families HUB.

The risk or potential risk of harm to the child may be as a victim, a gang member or both - in relation to their peers or to a gang-involved adult in their household. Teenagers can be particularly vulnerable to recruitment into gangs and involvement in gang violence. This vulnerability may be exacerbated by risk factors in an individual's background, including violence in the family, involvement of siblings in gangs, poor educational attainment, or poverty or mental health problems.

A child who is affected by gang activity, criminal exploitation or serious youth violence can be at risk of significant harm through physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Children may be particularly at risk of sexual exploitation.

Violence is a way for gang members to gain recognition and respect by asserting their power and authority in the street, with a substantial proportion of street crime perpetrated against members of other gangs or the relatives of gang members.

The specific risks for males and females may be quite different. There is a higher risk of sexual abuse for females, and they are more likely to have been coerced into involvement with a gang through peer pressure than their male counterparts. However, practitioners must be aware that boys and young men are also vulnerable to this type of abuse.

There is evidence of a high incidence of rape of girls who are involved with gangs. Some senior gang members pass their girlfriends around to lower ranking members and sometimes to the whole group at the same time. Very few rapes by gang members are reported. Boys and young men are less likely to report rape or sexual abuse due to factors such as (but not limited to); stigma, fear of not being believed, shame, embarrassment, homophobia.

Gang members often groom girls at school using drugs and alcohol, which function as disinhibitory and also create dependency and encourage / coerce them to recruit other girls through school / social networks.

• Child withdrawn from family;
• Sudden loss of interest in school or change in behaviour. Decline in attendance or academic achievement (although it should be noted that some gang members will maintain a good attendance record to avoid coming to notice);
• Being emotionally ‘switched off,’ but also containing frustration / rage;
• Starting to use new or unknown slang words;
• Holding unexplained money or possessions;
• Staying out unusually late without reason, or breaking parental rules consistently;
• Sudden change in appearance – dressing in a particular style or ‘uniform’ similar to that of other young people they hang around with, including a particular colour;
• Dropping out of positive activities;
• New nickname;
• Unexplained physical injuries, and/or refusal to seek / receive medical treatment for injuries;
• Graffiti style ‘tags’ on possessions, schoolbooks, walls;
• Constantly talking about another young person who has a lot of influence over them;
• Breaking off with old friends and hanging around with one group of people;
• Associating with known or suspected gang members, closeness to siblings or adults in the family who are gang members;
• Starting to adopt certain codes of group behaviour e.g. ways of talking and hand signs;
• Going missing;
• Being found by Police in towns or cities many miles from their home;
• Expressing aggressive or intimidating views towards other groups of young people, some of whom may have been friends in the past;
• Being scared when entering certain areas;
• Concerned by the presence of unknown youths in their neighbourhood.

An important feature of gang involvement is that the more heavily a child is involved with a gang, the less likely they are to talk about it.

There are links between gang-involvement, criminal exploitation and young people going missing from home or care. Some of the factors which can draw gang-involved young people away from home or care into going missing are linked to their involvement in carrying out drugs along county lines. There may be gang-associated child sexual exploitation and relationships which can be strong pull factors for girls who go missing. In suspected cases of radicalisation, a referral to the Children and Families Hub (see Children and Young Person Safeguarding Referrals) should be made in order to determine the appropriate response and level of support to the family. The SPB’s Safeguarding Children and Young People Against Radicalisation and Violent Extremism highlights the option available to safeguard children in relation to this issue. 

Where a child (including an unborn child) or young person presents with a health or development need) or where there is a safeguarding Need (see Statutory Guidance – Levels of Need). Or where a child or young person may be at risk of harm as a consequence of gang activity including child criminal exploitation and/or sexual exploitation practitioners must:

• Follow the SPB Child Protection Procedures, the SPB Children and Young Person Safeguarding Referrals Procedure;
• Refer to the Children and Families Hub;
• The police should be notified immediately where there is criminality;
• Where there is immediate risk of harm, practitioners must call the police on 999;
• Where a child may have been physically abused, suffered neglect or sexual abuse consideration must be given to following the Child Protection Medical Pathway and/or the Child Sexual Abuse Pathway;
• Where Child Sexual Exploitation is a concern practitioners should complete a CSE Risk Assessment and forward this to the Children and Families HUB;
• If whilst working with children and young people practitioners are alerted to risks towards a vulnerable adult then practitioners must raise a safeguarding concern with referral to the Single Point of Referral for adults at risk of harm.

Where a child presents with the need for a health and development wellbeing assessment or they require a safeguarding wellbeing assessment, (See SPB Assessment), this should be led by a qualified social worker, where there will be a need for co-ordinated multi-agency service intervention across relevant agencies. It may be appropriate for the social worker to be embedded in or work closely with, a team (for example in the Police or Jersey Youth Service), which has access to 'real time' gang intelligence in order to undertake a reliable assessment.

Practitioners should be aware that children who are Looked After by the Government of Jersey can be particularly vulnerable to becoming involved in gangs and being criminally exploited. There may be a need to review their Care Plan in light of the assessment and to provide additional support.

Where there are concerns about a child or young person being criminally exploited, the Police and Children’s Services, from the first point of contact with the young person, should consider whether they are victims of child criminal exploitation or trafficking and pursue a safeguarding, rather than criminal justice, response.

Children are often in fear of ending their contact with the gang because it might leave them vulnerable to reprisals from those former gang members and rival gang members who may see the young person as without protection.

If there is a possible "threat to life", the Police may consider it appropriate to issue an 
Osman Warning. In these circumstances this should trigger an automatic referral by the Police to Children's Services, the initiation of a Strategy Discussion and consideration of the need for immediate safeguarding action, unless to do so would place the child at greater risk.

Any decision not to refer a child should be actively reviewed to allow a referral to Children's Services to be made at an appropriate stage in order to protect the young person's safety.

Information and local knowledge about the specific gang should be shared, including the use, or suspected use, of weapons or drug dealing. There should also be consideration of risk to members of the child's family and other children in the community. Unless there are indications that parental involvement would risk further harm to the child, parents should be involved as early as possible where there are concerns about gang activity.

Practitioners should have access to regular single agency safeguarding supervision. Practitioners should also consider multi-agency reflective supervision where cases are complex, stuck or drifting.

Professional challenge should be welcomed and partnership working depends on resolving professional difference and conflict as soon as possible, where staff experience professional differences, they must follow the SPB Resolving Professional Difference/Escalation Policy.

Children involved in gangs may be known to other services for offending behaviour or school exclusion.

Girls and young women involved with gangs can be affected by sexual violence, domestic violence, drug and alcohol misuse, school exclusion and going missing from home. Girls will often be controlled and manipulated by male gang members and sexual violence is a common feature of the experience of girls involved with gangs. Sisters or female family members who are not actively involved with gangs can be targeted and sexually assaulted by rival gangs.

Children may often be at the periphery of involvement for some time before they become active gang members. Children may also follow older siblings into gang involvement. This may provide opportunities for preventative work to be undertaken with children.

(Reference papers only – refer to Jersey Law, Policy and Procedures should action be required in the Island)

Safeguarding Children and Young People who May be Affected by Gang Activity

Reducing Knife, Gun and Gang Crime

The Centre for Social Justice: Girls and Gangs

Ending Gang and Youth Violence Community Engagement (2014)

Preventing Gang and Youth Violence: Spotting Signals of Risk and Supporting Children and Young People

Criminal Exploitation of Children and Vulnerable Adults: County Lines (The Home Office) - This guidance outlines what county lines (and associated criminal exploitation) is, signs to look for in potential victims, and what to do about it.

County Lines - Gang Violence Exploitation and Drug Supply (NCA 2016)

Children’s Voices - A review of evidence on the subjective wellbeing of children involved in gangs in England (Children’s Commissioner, November 2017)