POLICY BRIEF: BETWEEN VICTIMHOOD AND OFFENDING A NORDIC SCOPING STUDY ON THE LINKS BETWEEN YOUTH CRIMINAL EXPLOITATION AND TRAFFICKING By Anniina Jokinen (HEUNI)
INTRODUCTION Drawing on academic research, official reports, media sources, and Nordic consultations with criminal justice practitioners, the scoping study highlights growing concerns about youth involvement in gang-related crime, with particular attention to Sweden as a reference point for the Nordic regional debate. The analysis emphasises the complexity of identifying situations where children involved in crime may actually be victims of exploitation and/or trafficking, which requires a nuanced understanding of vulnerability, exploitation and the coercive mechanisms at play.
KEY FINDINGS
• Children may be recruited into and exploited in criminal activities through abuse of vulnerabilities such as young age, adverse childhood experiences including traumatic experiences, neuropsychiatric disorders, and financial dependence. Exploitation often occurs without evident use of force. • Recognising children exploited in criminal activities as victims of exploitation, forced recruitment and in some instances of human trafficking is essential for ensuring their protection and applying the principle of non-punishment as enshrined in international law. The mere act of recruitment of children for the purpose of exploitation in criminal activities can meet the legal definition of trafficking. The means of trafficking such as deception or abuse of position of vulnerability need not be proved when it comes to children. • Few jurisdictions have clear provisions for non-punishment of children who are coerced into criminality or victims of trafficking, and the misidentification of exploited children as offenders can lead to criminal records, disrupted educational pathways, placements in foster care or educational institutions, which in themselves are known to be associated with increased risks of re-offending and re-victimisation, including of trafficking. • Effective prevention of child exploitation and trafficking requires addressing adverse childhood experiences, strengthening protective factors, improved identification of any forms of violence targeting children and providing timely support to families. These measures reduce vulnerability and help prevent both exploitation and youth crime.
The report concludes that applying a trafficking lens to criminal exploitation of children can improve victim protection and shift responses from punitive to rehabilitative. Concretely, this implies that law enforcement should assess the possibility that a child has been manipulated or coerced by older perpetrators when they engage in criminal activities. To do so requires specialisation and building of capacity especially among criminal justice actors and social and health care professionals to improve identification of the patterns and dynamics of exploitation behind individual offending children.