Social media ‘fuels crimes by children’

Social media is the ‘catalyst’ for some of the most serious violent and sexual attacks committed by young people, a report shows.

Crimes are being plotted by children and teenagers online in ways that were ‘inconceivable’ just a few years ago, warned the probation watchdog.

Instead of trouble springing from youths loitering on street corners, they are now planning and inciting offences using smartphones and computers in their bedrooms, said Chief Inspector of Probation Dame Glenys Stacey.

In one in four cases, young people’s use of social media sites, such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, was directly related to the crime they had committed.

The report by HM Inspectorate of Probation, published today, will lead to more calls for tech giants to do more to shut down content that promotes violence.

The watchdog said arguments involving troubled young people often start online before ‘escalating dramatically’ into physical assaults when the protagonists meet in the street or on public transport. Young people are also being blackmailed online, using indecent images that they have been pressured to upload on to the internet.

And gangs are posting video online of members threatening and goading rivals, describing how they would murder them, which fuels violence and bloodshed.

In one instance highlighted by the report, a young person had appeared in a gang video filmed outside his home, only for a rival gang to identify the location and turn up one evening to intimidate and cause damage.

Dame Glenys said: ‘Social media is a large part of young people’s lives, and we found it featured often enough in the build up to a serious offence.

‘Many of these young people shun Facebook and other common applications, in favour of lesser known and, therefore, more private media.

‘We found offence scenarios inconceivable just a few years ago, with social media used to both incite and plan crime.’

Dame Glenys said: ‘Social media is a large part of young people’s lives, and we found it featured often enough in the build up to a serious offence. Many of these young people shun Facebook and other common applications, in favour of lesser known and, therefore, more private media’

She said the 152 Youth Offending Teams, with adults supervising around 19,000 youngsters aged 10 to 18 who have been sentenced by the courts or come to the attention of the police, needed help to ‘catch up’ with social media-related crime.

Youth justice workers had a ‘formidable task’ to keep up to date with young people’s use of social networks – and a ‘clear understanding’ of how it was used to intimidate vulnerable youngsters and plot crimes.

Dame Glenys said: ‘There is not enough relevant and up-to-the minute advice and information available nationally to help them work with those whose offending is directly linked and fuelled by social media.’

She also said there was a ‘strong case’ for monitoring the social media output of young people who pose a risk to the public.

The report contained a glossary of text messaging ‘codes’ which was provided to youth offending teams in Waltham Forest, east London, about local gangs and so-called sexting.

Examples include 420 (marijuana), NIFOC (nude in front of the computer) and TDTM (talk dirty to me).

A Youth Justice Board spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the risks associated with social media, and have already issued new guidance to support Youth Offending Teams in tackling this issue.

‘We will also carefully consider the recommendations within the report.’

Last month an online gang video which glorified guns and violence was linked to the killing of a 14-year-old boy.

Internet giant Google took down the film on its YouTube service after being alerted to it by the Daily Mail following the shooting of schoolboy Corey Junior Davis.

A feud between the Woodgrange E7 gang and the rival Beckton E6 crew, based in east London, is believed to have led to the his murder next to a playground.