Headlines

Survey: One in Nine UK Teens Approached by Criminals

Can focused deterrence rescue exploited youth from crime, or is incarceration needed to end the epidemic?

Published DEC 16 2025

Survey: One in Nine UK Teens Approached by Criminals

Story

Above: A stock photo illustration of youths dressed in black. Image credit: Ashley Cooper/Getty Images

The Facts

A survey of nearly 11,000 children aged 13 to 17 in England and Wales by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) has revealed that one in nine (12%) were approached by criminals to sell, transport or store drugs, weapons or money in the past year.
Guardian
The Telegraph
The charity, which is funded by a £200 million ($268.7 million) grant from the Home Office, found that over a quarter of those approached (28%) acquiesced, a figure equivalent to approximately 120,000 teenagers across England and Wales.
Youth Endowment Fund
Youth Endowment Fund
Bribery was the most common reported tactic to exploit teenagers, with 42% offered money or goods, and 27% drugs or alcohol, followed by the threat of physical or sexual violence (21%), blackmail (18%) and alleged indebtedness (18%).
Youth Endowment Fund
The research found that 2.4% of 13 to 17-year-olds reported being part of a group involved in violence or other crimes. A further 3.9% stated they were previously gang members, who cited growing older (26%), avoiding legal trouble (22%) and wanting to become a role model (18%) as the main reasons for leaving.
Youth Endowment Fund
Of those claiming to be part of a criminal gang, 55% had transported or hidden drugs, weapons or money when approached. In addition, teenagers involved in criminal activities were also 18 times more likely to have been the victim of serious violence, which more than half reported perpetrating.
Youth Endowment Fund
The YEF also announced that it and the Home Office have invested £8 million to trial a strategy called focused deterrence in multiple U.K. cities, which it stated combines enforcement with "tailored support" to tackle the causes of violence. YEF will publish the results in a report in 2028.
Youth Endowment Fund

Sources Split

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RIGHT

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The Spin

Left narrative

The criminal exploitation of teenagers has reached alarming levels, with thousands across England and Wales recruited by gangs to smuggle drugs, store weapons and move cash. A policy of focused rehabilitation could be the key to tackling this crisis, by punishing the crime but, through coordinated support and positive interventions, primarily helping the youths involved.

Youth Endowment Fund

Guardian

Right narrative

Britain faces a child crime epidemic that fantasies about rehabilitation cannot fix, as some young offenders are fundamentally dangerous and beyond rescue. Troubled backgrounds, therefore, cannot be used to excuse heinous acts and avoid prison time; to do so would only enable this kind of unacceptable behavior to continue unchecked, putting more people at risk.