Child Criminal Exploitation and Cuckooing to be Criminal Offences – Gov.uk
The government has announced its intention to make a number of changes to the legal framework concerning those who commit Child Criminal Exploitation. This involves creating a specific offence of adults exploiting children into committing criminal offences and a new child criminal exploitation civil preventative order. They will also create a specific offence for the ‘cuckooing’ of properties. These will feature in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill.
Details
The new offence of child criminal exploitation will make it an offence for an adult to use a child to commit any criminal offence. This new offence is designed to apply only to those over 18 and victims will be limited to those under 18. The government’s press release states that it will “target the inherent imbalance of power that is unduly exercised by an adult who uses a child to commit crime”. The offence will carry a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment.
There are existing offences under the current regime which cover this scenario within the Modern Slavery Act 2015. However, these are not specific to adults exploiting children. The government consider that the new offence will “provide the police with an additional tool to tackle this offending which reflects more specifically the harm done to child victims and recognise offenders more clearly as exploiters of children”.
Meanwhile, the proposed child criminal exploitation civil preventative orders will allow the court to impose prohibitions and requirements on someone at risk of committing or recommitting child criminal exploitation conduct. The applicants will be required to prove that the order is necessary to protect children from the risk of being criminally exploited.
These civil orders will be available at the end of criminal proceedings, even if the defendant was acquitted. Breach of an order will be a separate criminal offence and carry a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment.
It was also announced that the practice of ‘cuckooing’ will be made a specific offence. Cuckooing is where properties are taken over in order to use them for criminal activity and is a common part of county lines drug distribution. The new offence will make it specifically unlawful to take over a person’s dwelling and use it for illegal activities without their consent.
The changes have been cautiously welcomed by children’s campaigners, including the Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Society, Catch 22 and Barnardo’s.
Commentary
Child Criminal Exploitation causes immense harm and has a huge impact on victims and their life chances. It is welcome that the government has recognised that children are uniquely vulnerable to exploitation with a legal framework that reflects this.
However, this needs to be married with a wider, genuinely Child First approach to the issue that properly supports child victims of exploitation, treats them as victims not perpetrators and listens to their voices and experiences.
There are also question marks over the practicalities and implementation of the new regime. The first is whether the new offences and civil order add to the existing offences and orders available or are merely lip-service to the issue. There are already offences which criminalise exploitation of others and civil orders such as Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders and Criminal Behaviour Orders. The government claims that they will add to the powers already in place, by helping to specify the response and stigmatise those found guilty or subject to the order. Clear guidance and effective implementation will be required to manifest the benefits of such specificity.
The new offence will likely suffer from many of the pitfalls that impact the existing framework. This includes the issue of children being afraid to give evidence against their exploiters for fear of retribution. It is stated that complainants will be automatically eligible for special measures when giving evidence in court proceedings, such as giving pre-recorded evidence or from behind a screen. These are unlikely to be sufficient to allay the fears of children and young people and many will choose not to co-operate because they are afraid for their or their family’s safety.
Another concern is that by creating a bright line of culpability for being over the age of 18 risks turning young people from children to fully mature, culpable adults on the day they turn 18. It is often the case that young people who have been exploited themselves are then required to recruit others and the line can be blurred between victim and perpetrator. Whilst it is positive that this particular new offence will not criminalise children who recruit their peers, young people continue to mature beyond their 18th birthday and this has been increasingly recognised by the criminal justice system. However, this does not appear to be acknowledged so far and it will be interesting to see whether it is recognised in the guidance.
Written by
Robbie Eyles, Youth Justice Legal Centre