Disrupting gang recruiters reduces the 'malign influence' they have over children, say Irish researchers

Eoin O’Meara-Daly, assistant director of Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice, stressed the role of poverty and marginalisation in driving gang recruitment

Europol, the EU police agency, says a 'growing number' of children are involved in organised crime and the drugs trade. File photo

Disrupting the activities of local gang recruiters plays a key role in tackling the “malign influence” they can exercise over children, according to EU-backed Irish researchers.

Combined with family supports, community-driven projects, digital safeguarding and school programmes, these measures form “core interventions” in preventing young people being snared into serious criminality.

Researchers from University of Limerick are leading a major project funded by the European Union Drugs Agency (Euda) to design interventions that work.

Eoin O’Meara-Daly, assistant director of Research Evidence into Policy, Programmes and Practice (REPPP), told an EU webinar that there is a “lack of scientific evaluation” of interventions regarding the recruitment of children into criminal networks.

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He said this is despite a “growing number” of children being involved in organised crime and the drugs trade, as cited by Europol, the EU police agency.

He cited an article in the Irish Examiner which stated that children as young as eight were being targeted by gangs to deliver drugs and collect drug debts.

He said this shows the “extreme malign influence” young people are being subject to by local drug gangs.

Last week, the Irish Examiner reported that national youth organisations wanted government funding criteria to be changed to enable local projects provide general preventative work for children as young as seven.

One Dublin project told the Oireachtas drugs committee that they had seen a rise in both the level and “severity” of crime children were engaging in.

The Diamond Project said young people thought they had “great status on the street”, being part of a criminal group. It said a significant number of their clients were outside mainstream education and had learning or developmental needs.

Eight interventions

Mr O’Meara-Daly said his research examined eight intervention approaches, including ones looking at gang networks. This showed that identifying and disrupting key criminal actors — such as “recruiters and leaders” — was crucial, with one Italian project saying it reduced recruitment by 18%.

A second key intervention was family support, including an understanding of traumas that children and families have experienced, and providing mental health and practical supports.

He stressed the importance of strengthening the cohesion of communities and the role played by local community-led projects.

He said schools were “critical” for prevention and intervention, including by providing mentoring and after-school activities. He said zero-tolerance approaches were often “counterproductive”.

Mr O’Meara-Daly said digital safeguarding was emerging as a key issue, as social media and gaming were being used by gangs for recruitment. He said collaboration with tech companies and awareness in schools and among parents was important.

He stressed the role of poverty and marginalisation in driving recruitment and said training, mentoring, relationship support, job skills, community connection and building of pro-social identity were key responses.

He said they were conducting on-the-ground research with projects in France, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Ireland, north and south.