Heavier sentences for gangsters using children to commit crimes Gangland figures will face up to five years in prison for such offences under new legislation
Fri, Jan 15, 2021, 00:01
Conor Lally Security and Crime Editor Listen now 3:52
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee is due to announce the new measures on Friday. Photograph: Julien Behal Photography
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Gangland figures and others using children to commit crimes will face up to five years in prison under new legislation being introduced by the Government.
Bill to outlaw the grooming of children into crime announced by Ministers McEntee and Browne
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Bill to outlaw the grooming of children into crime announced by Ministers McEntee and Browne
New offences will lead to up to five years in prison
Bill will deliver on Programme for Government commitments to criminalise coercion of children to sell and supply drugs and the grooming of children to commit crimes
Legislation a key part of efforts to prevent gangs leading children into a life of crime
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee TD and the Minister of State for Law Reform James Browne TD today announced the publication of the General Scheme of the Criminal Justice (Exploitation of Children in the Commission of Offences) Bill, which will outlaw the grooming of children into crime.
The actor John Connors has described recruiting children to commit crime as child abuse.
The Exploitation of Children in the Commission of Offences Bill makes it an offence to compel, induce or invite a child to engage in criminal activity and carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison.
Mr Connors, who has starred in a number of crime-related films and dramas including Love/Hate and Cardboard Gangsters, said he saw first hand the criminal exploitation of children while growing up in Darndale in Dublin. I ve seen kids been groomed, I’ve seen lives ended, I’ve seen families absolutely destroyed. I think recruiting kids to commit crime is child abuse, he said.