Talk of ‘protecting our children’ all too often revolves around protecting our girls. If the daughter is heading out on her own; she’s the recipient of mum’s concern, the “kick him in the balls and run” martial arts advice of dads, and the vigilant overwatch from kind neighbours, and wider society. It’s clear that the safety of girls is, understandably, a highly discussed priority for parents, communities and society alike. Meanwhile – as the daughter undergoes her parents’ pre-night-out safety briefing, the son quietly takes a knife from the kitchen, leaves the home, and joins a gang. Because the truth is, statistically, that boy is far more likely to be assaulted, or stabbed, and is far less likely to make it home than his sister. He is the primary victim of nearly every single violent crime, and yet, little is said or done for his safety. So too boys are the main victim of ‘criminal exploitation’; where a person is forced, coerced, or groomed into committing crime for someone else’s benefit. And ‘criminal exploitation’ is breaking records of its own, to now become the most common form of modern slavery in the UK, ahead of both labour and sexual exploitation. Particularly at risk are young, black, inner city boys, coerced and recruited into gangs at alarming rates; exploited, assaulted, and killed, to little public fanfare, outrage, or interest. In fact, I hear the opposite – For his ‘male privilege’ means ‘he can walk the night without fear’, according to some sassy, highly privileged, and highly ignorant influencer. Other than that, I hear nothing. So where is the talk from our politicians? Where are the cries and pleas from our advocates? Where are the safety campaigns, and parental concern for the group *most at risk* to violent crime? Where is the compassion for ours boys? And is it time we widen the Modern Slavery Act to include ‘criminal exploitation’, to protect those embroiled within its dark web? What do you think? ~ Centre for Social Justice, Criminal Exploitation Images by Nathan Costa, Ryan Grice, Donny Jiang, Brian Ludquist, Amirhossein Hasani, Ali Jouyandehi, Ian Scargill #modernslavery #fyp

2024-02-27