Understanding youth involvement in organised crime requires looking beyond the recruitment process itself. Young people enter criminal networks through a range of pathways, and their involvement is shaped by a complex interplay of individual, family, community and structural factors. The toolkit therefore begins by examining the scale and nature of the problem, the different pathways through which young people become involved, and the factors that may increase or reduce their vulnerability. It also considers the challenges of defining and measuring youth involvement across different national contexts.
Building on this analysis, the toolkit then examines the following prevention strategies:
- Community-oriented interventions: building trust and cooperation between police, young people and communities.
- Family-based and school-based approaches: strengthening parenting, family relationships and protective factors.
- Online prevention: addressing recruitment, exploitation and the influence of criminal content in digital environments.
- Focused deterrence: combining targeted enforcement with support and clear communication to prevent serious violence and criminal involvement.
- Youth diversion schemes: preventing further offending by offering alternatives to formal criminal justice responses.
The toolkit provides practical guidance, checklists and EU examples
to support the development, implementation and evaluation of prevention initiatives.
Published: September 2026, EUCPN-ENAA Secretariat