Prosecution Of Young Defendants Charged With Offences Who Might Be Trafficked Victims

There may be instances where a youth faces criminal charges when he/she is a trafficked victim and the offences were committed when that person was in a coerced situation.

Recent cases have highlighted the following offences as those that are likely to be committed by child trafficked victims: 

• theft (in organised pick pocketing gangs), under section 1 Theft Act 1968;
• cultivation of cannabis plants, under section 6 Misuse of Drugs Act 1971

Prosecutors should be alert to the possibility that in such circumstances, a young offender may actually be a victim of trafficking and have committed the offences under coercion.

Where there is clear evidence that the youth has a credible defence of duress, the case should be discontinued on evidential grounds. Where the information concerning coercion is less certain, further details should be sought from the police and youth offender teams, so that the public interest in continuing a prosecution can be considered carefully. Prosecutors should also be alert to the fact that an appropriate adult in interview could be the trafficker or a person allied to the trafficker.

Any youth who might be a trafficked victim should be afforded the protection of our child care legislation if there are concerns that they have been working under duress or if their well being has been threatened.

In these circumstances, the youth may well then become a victim or witness for a prosecution against those who have exploited them The younger a child is, the more careful investigators and prosecutors have to be in deciding whether it is right to ask them to become involved in a criminal trial.

Prosecutors are reminded of the principles contained within the CPS policy statement on 'Children and Young People' and in particular, our commitment to always consider what is best for children in criminal cases.

Children and Young People policy

Youth Offenders