Crossing the line was developed by the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) in response to the growing issue of gangs, county lines and knife crime. In the UK there are 27,000 children identifying as gang members and 34,000 gang associated children have been the victims of violent crime in the last 12 months (Longfield 2019).
While it is necessary to have a sense of the scale of the crisis, it is important that we challenge and evolve our understanding of the term ‘gang’. ‘From postcodes to profits’, (Whittaker et al 2018) highlights that gang culture is redefining itself as a ruthless drugs business; one where visible signs of gang membership are no longer desirable as they can attract attention and have the potential to affect the marketplace. Therefore, models of recruitment and expansion have evolved, placing many children at significant risk. In order to better understand this, it is important that we widen and focus our attention on the growing issue of county lines and knife crime.
The Children’s Commissioner’s report ‘Keeping kids safe’ draws parallels to the crisis in child protection from Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) a decade ago. Particularly that many CSE victims were not identified as such and there has been an urgent call to “learn from the mistakes of child sexual exploitation by treating children as victims not perpetrators” (Longfield 2019). Changing the language we use from "gang affiliated" to “criminally exploited” is an important step on this path.
Another recurring theme is the need for effective multi-agency working
on a local level as well as a national scale. The contextual safeguarding
approach recognises young people are
influenced by a whole range of environments and people outside of their family.
By understanding this approach and building on the substantial body of work
from the network it is possible to create a fresh approach to multi-agency
working and engage the wider community.
To find out more about the development of Crossing the line, see our research website.