Essay On Gang Recruitment

Careful selection and ensuring control of youths is a key factor for gangs if they are to be successful in criminal exploitation. Gang recruitment is complex as potential recruits are exposed to information that may result in potential incrimination of gang members, and therefore selection must be thought about carefully (Shapiro 2005). Fagan (1990), states that most adolescences tend to evade gang involvement, which also further supports the notion that participation in gangs is more selective than meets the eye. Despite county lines gangs being accused of recruiting vulnerable youths, there is a significant amount of literature to support that some members join willingly.

Decker and Van Winkle (1996) associate joining gangs as a system of both push and pull factors. Pull factors are associated with the desirability aspect of gang life, such as improving respect or rank among groups, such as attracting the opposite sex (Decker and Van Winkle, 1996), and the creation of more prospects (Slayton, Stephens, and MacKenna, 1993). Gang memberships offer a variety of attractive opportunities for instance the excitement of gang lifestyle (Pennell et al., 1994); some adolescents find excitement through rebelling against authority, or through breaking the law. Youths may be attracted to

Children who are exploited for criminal gain are just as eligible for agency support and thus all forms of child exploitation should be measured in the same way (APPG, 2017). Worryingly, the amount of children who were reported to the UK Government’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM), increased to 1,278 in 2016 which is the highest logged by the National Crime Agency (2017). Over a third of victims who were trafficked were legally classified as children who were forced into manipulative labour such as forced criminality (Bulman,