The Lost Children of Our Guns and Gangs Cities ; a Charity That Pioneered Ways of Turning Children Away From Violent Crime Is Fighting for Funding to Survive. Here, Its Founder Tells How the Most Vulnerable Teens Face a New Threat - Recruitment by Islamic Extremists

Summary

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I KNOW a young man whose memory of his childhood was having ballpoint pen ink all over his lips and inside his mouth. His mother would use the pen's plastic outer tube to smoke her crack through a bottle, leaving the inner tube on the floor to be chewed by the toddlers who would get smeared with the ink.

From the damaged children and young people I meet, it is evident that the degradation and violence that all too often they perpetuate themselves first began in their homes. Children describe being battered and sleeping with knives under their pillows because they were terrified of the drug dealers who routinely assaulted their mother.

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Extract

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The Lost Children of Our Guns and Gangs Cities ; a Charity That Pioneered Ways of Turning Children Away From Violent Crime Is Fighting for Funding to Survive. Here, Its Founder Tells How the Most Vulnerable Teens Face a New Threat - Recruitment by Islamic Extremists

They recount finding their parents sleeping in their own vomit because of drug and other substance misuse. Many describe being given street drugs before the age of nine to smoke alongside their older siblings and their parents. Later, they plot their childhood through a collage of abusive memories. They expect terror and are continuously terrified.

That is something to bear in mind as we struggle to deal with the rising violent crime generated by young people. Why are children picking up knives and firearms and per...

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