Criminals who groom children into county lines drug dealing could be jailed for up to 10 years in new legislation set to be introduced next week.
“Cuckooing”, where criminals take over the home of a vulnerable person for drug dealing, is also set to be outlawed with offenders facing up to five years in prison under measures designed to protect young people from being exploited by gangs.
The home secretary said the two new offences, being brought under the Crime and Policing Bill, will ensure child victims are protected while those who prey on them are properly punished.
“The exploitation of children and vulnerable people for criminal gain is sickening and it is vital we do everything in our power to eradicate it from our streets,” Yvette Cooper said.
“These steps are vital in our efforts to stop the grooming and exploitation of children into criminal gangs, deliver on our pledge to halve knife crime in the next decade and work towards our overall mission to make our streets safer.”
According to the Home Office, around 14,500 children were identified as being at risk of child criminal exploitation (CCE) in 2023-24, but that is likely to be an underestimate because a lot of young people will not be known to the authorities.
Last year, The Independent revealed the inside story of how a 13-year-old was recruited into a violent criminal gang under his parents’ roof. Gangs are known to use increasingly underhanded tactics to lure young people, before threatening their families or holding debts over their heads.
The legislation will also see the introduction of CCE prevention orders, which will mean that courts can put restrictions on people who they believe pose a risk of exploiting a child for criminal purposes.
These bespoke orders could include measures such as limiting their ability to work with children, contact specific people or go to a certain area.
Breaking these orders will also be a criminal offence, carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The children’s commissioner has said that the measures will provide “clarity that exploited children are victims”.
Dame Rachel de Souza said: “As children’s commissioner, I know the criminal exploitation of children is a complex type of abuse that causes harm to victims in a way that has for too long been undercounted and poorly understood.
“Many children targeted by adult criminals themselves face punishment instead of support. Like too many child victims, they are often ignored and overlooked. Their voices and experiences must be listened to, if we are to create a child-centric justice system that puts safeguarding at its heart.
“Introducing this new offence and new prevention orders will help create that much-needed clarity that exploited children are victims.”
Mark Russell, chief executive at The Children’s Society, described the measures as a “vital step forward” which will finally shift the focus to perpetrators, rather than child victims.
“For too long, adults who groom children into criminal activity – forcing them to hold drugs or launder money or commit theft – have evaded accountability,” he said. “Charges such as drug possession ignore the core truth; these are child abusers exploiting vulnerable young people.”
The Crime and Policing Bill will also include plans to explicitly outlaw spiking, with a new offence that will carry a prison term of up to 10 years.
