Young people can be drawn into gangs through pressure, fear, grooming or exploitation. These cases are rarely straightforward. We provide specialist, child centred representation to protect the young person and ensure the full context is understood.
Common factors include:
We make sure these issues are properly raised.
Many cases involve being pressured to:
Where exploitation is present, and permitted, as not offences are, we can raise section 45 Modern Slavery Act defences.
We represent young people accused of:
We challenge assumptions about “gang membership” and the use of music etc., and scrutinise the evidence.
We provide 24/7 police station advice for arrests, stop and search and voluntary interviews. Early advice is crucial especially in gang related cases.
We ensure the young person can participate effectively, arrange assessments where needed and raise exploitation or vulnerability at the earliest stage.