Girl gang members trapped in cycle of violence | Darcy Jimenez

Figures suggest that up to 34% of children involved in gangs are girls. Services are failing them, says the children’s commissioner

Kim was 13 years old when she started selling guns for a teenage boy she met at a party. “Being female, it’s a lot easier for me to sell the guns,” she says. “Because I was very young, I was the one that would do the drop-offs. It was quite fun at the time. I felt a bit invincible.”

There’s very little official data on gang-associated women and girls, but figures analysed by the children’s commissioner’s office suggest that girls account for as many as 34% of the 6,830 children aged under 17 in England assessed by councils as being involved in gangs. Yet Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, says girls involved in gangs are being failed.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/33hOtAQ