In the King’s Speech, the government announced new legislation designed to help combat the use of children in “county lines” drugs running, in which they are used as mules and sometimes asked to hide illicit substances.
Currently, children deemed to have been exploited can be afforded a defence via The National Referral Mechanism (NRM).This is a framework for identifying victims of human trafficking or modern slavery and ensuring they receive appropriate support.
Under the proposed new legislation, the government are looking specifically at the individuals exploiting these children.
In many circumstances, these individuals will face their own drugs charges so it will be interesting to see if this legislation will run along a drugs charge, thus increasing any potential sentence or give rise to its own individual charge.
The police or prosecution still have to overcome any evidential issues they may face in proving any criminal case in a court of law.
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