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The government has announced that it will introduce a new law to prevent adults from grooming children to commit crimes.
The draft law on the exploitation of children in the commission of crimes makes it a crime to compel, induce or invite a child to participate in criminal activities and carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.
Justice Minister Helen Mc Entee says the new legislation is designed to break the link between organized crime and vulnerable youth and to stop criminal gangs leading children into criminal lives.
However, some legal experts have warned that the crime can be difficult to prosecute.
Organized crime gangs and dangerous criminals have long used children as lookouts, to carry weapons, sell drugs or commit other serious crimes on their behalf.
Children are often drawn to the lure of money and luxury items, but many also act out of fear.
The new bill announced today will make it a crime for an adult to force, coerce, induce or invite a child to participate in a criminal activity, with limited liability to the adult.
While the law currently allows an adult who causes a child to commit a crime to be found guilty as the primary offender, it does not recognize the harm caused to the child.
Minister McEntee said the new bill is designed to address this problem. The adult can be prosecuted even if the child’s attempt to commit a crime is unsuccessful.
He also said the new legislation will complement the work of the University of Limerick School of Law, which outlines how criminal networks entrap children and increase their crimes.
Dr. Johnny Connolly welcomed the bill as an important step in highlighting the problem, but cautioned that it can be difficult to obtain evidence and testimonies from children and therefore difficult to prosecute the adult.
The announcement reflects a response from criminal justice, but those who work in the communities most affected by organized crime also say that this bill must be complemented by alternative education, employment and social programs to provide children and families with support. and the skills they need to keep them from falling. prey to criminals and criminal gangs.
The Reach Out Program Manager at Kilbarrack in Dublin said the bill represents a good start and that while some children are drawn to crime, others are drawn to “cultural subtlety.”
Tiernan Williams said that for many of these children crime is intergenerational and “everything they know becomes a career choice.”
He also said that many of these young people are not afraid of being sent to jail because their colleagues, friends and family have also been imprisoned.
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