Themes

The below themes have been identified as areas for workers to consider in relation to values and approaches with children.

Adultification:

• Adultification is a type of bias which skews the perception of certain children, leading to others – including professionals – viewing them as more ‘grown up’ or, ‘adult’. This can then lead to lapses in appropriate safeguarding.
• ‘..When notions of innocence and vulnerability are not afforded to certain children.’ (Davis and Marsh, 2020)
• They confirm that when this happens outside the home, it is always grounded in bias and discrimination. Certain aspects of that child’s personal characteristics, socio-economic situation or lived experiences are met with discriminatory responses. This means that, rather than being seen as children experiencing abuse, they are viewed as either responsible in some way, or as more resilient and able to withstand maltreatment.
• Black children are much more likely to be subject to Adultification bias. Black boys and girls are often perceived through the lens of racialised stereotypes. 
• Whilst the roots may be historic, Davis (2022) points out that Black children are still seen as more ‘adult’, with Black boys often viewed as ‘angry or aggressive’ and Black girls ‘hyper sexual …, strong, loud and rude’. These attitudes mean that Black children experiencing, or at risk of, harm may not be seen as vulnerable or in need of safeguarding in the same way as their non-Black counterparts.  
• What is Adultification? | Guidance on Child Protection (highspeedtraining.co.uk)
• Adultification can lead to a more punitive response than a safeguarding one. For example, a teenager found to be criminally exploited to sell drugs may be seen more as a culpable individual that needs to be penalised, rather than a child who needs to be protected from those seeking to exploit them

"He is 15 have you seen the size of him"

"She's street wise and tough, you wouldn't mess with her"

"He's the man of the house"

Gender bias:

• In recent years, there has been notable progress in recognising that boys can experience exploitation in criminal contexts – for example, how boys and young men are exploited to hold and move drugs around the country as part of county lines operations. But despite this, boys’ experiences of sexual abuse are still rarely discussed or understood. Research is limited and there are growing concerns that boys are underrepresented within official data because male sexual abuse often goes unreported (Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA centre)).
• There is, however, growing evidence that boys experiencing criminal exploitation may also be sexually abused, with this abuse used as a way to coerce and control them. Perpetrators film sexual acts and then extort their victims into further exploitation and criminality. Like other young people, boys are also forced to carry drugs internally, including anally. 
• Similarly, when professionals view girls as victims, there is an assumption that their experiences are sexual. We don’t talk as much about girls being criminally exploited. But it happens. In fact, it may happen because we don’t talk about it.

Gender and Exploitation | The Children's Society (childrenssociety.org.uk)

"She has been missing overnight, she is at risk of CSE"

"She's very vulnerable, she could be being sexually exploited"

"He's been missing overnight, he is at risk of CSE"

Girls and gangs

• In the same way that boys are often seen as more aligned to CCE and girls more so to CSE; girls are often not linked to gangs. There is often a lack of curiosity regarding girls being in relationships with boys involved in gangs, attending parties with gang members or having siblings involved in gangs. Similarly, girls may be active gang members themselves. Neither of these scenarios would preclude the fact that they could be being exploited, either criminally, sexually or both. 
• Research tells us that there is no uniform experience of girls in gangs, but the research distinguishes girls in 'credit' and those in 'deficit'. 
• Girls living in the care of the local authority and / or with a personal history of trauma were especially vulnerable to gang involvement.
• Girls were found to be actively recruited from settings traditionally used for a managed transition to independence, this includes cuckooing.
• Young women's' roles in gangs has historically been more narrowly defined (eg girls seen as 'hooks' or 'honeytraps' or exploited primarily for sexual purposes).
• Honey trapping involves girls being asked to encourage someone to meet her in a location where they will then be attacked/robbed. This can lead to prosecution through joint enterprise.
• Gangs have recognised the 'invisibility' of girls (by professionals) in the fields of crime and justice and so they can travel and be active while remaining relatively undetected 
• From the girls’ perspective the most reported reason for involvement was that a gang provided a sense of protection – linked to community belonging. 
  Street gangs and coercive control: The gendered exploitation of young women and girls in county lines. Harvard et al

Girls involved in youth violence: Key findings and recommendations | Local Government Association

Drill Music and Serious Youth Violence.

Gangs are increasingly using drill music and social media to promote gang culture, glamorise the gang lifestyle and the use of weapons. They may post videos online that seek to taunt rivals, incite violence, or glamorise criminality. The videos often show the brandishing of weapons, include incendiary remarks about recent incidents of young people being killed or seriously injured, and threats to stab or shoot specific individuals and members of rival groups. The instant nature of social media means that plans develop rapidly, disputes can escalate very quickly and are seen by a large audience, which increases the need to retaliate to ‘win’ the dispute. If such an allegation is referred to the CPS prosecutors should consider whether a substantive offence is disclosed. 

Things to consider:

• Importance of interpretation and understanding 
• Can feed into moral panic and the criminalisation of aspects of Black culture 
• Need for street literacy / social media understanding
• Challenges of safeguarding in the virtual – social media world – 'one of the most significant challenges facing police and children's services' (working together)
• We are not saying drill music is explicitly inciting violence, there can be positive aspects of drill music for young people in Leeds. However, there are examples of #Leedsdrill that do explicitly promote violence amongst rival gangs. This needs to be better understood and disrupted through engagement with the right communities.