Today a triumvirate of inspector's publishes a report on under-18s in gangs and the work that is (or isn’t) done by government agencies. The slightly depressing thing about reading it is that it tells a familiar story – of money being spent and lots of meetings being held, of people trying to do the right thing but of little being achieved. Children in gangs frequently have miserable lives, where they are bullied into staying in the gang and into committing crimes. That’s why Professor John Pitts calls them “reluctant gangsters”. Gang membership should be seen as a child welfare issue since children who are members of gangs are frequently being exploited by adults and are putting their own lives and those of their families at risk. Girls who are members or hangers-on of gangs are often sexually exploited. Yet there is little child welfare response to children in gangs. As the report points out, most effort goes on enforcement rather than on helping children extricate themselves from harmful gangs, or on preventing vulnerable children joining in the first place. The findings of this report echo the need to find solutions for crime outside the criminal justice system.

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