The limits of legal protection for children exploited in criminality

Children exploited in criminality occupy a precarious legal position: their victimisation is rendered invisible by the conduct through which they are exploited. Drawing on the ideal victim framework and double deviance hypothesis, this article examines why children coerced into criminal activity are encountered by authorities as offenders rather than victims, and why boys (who constitute the majority of children identified in criminal networks in Sweden) are simultaneously the most exploited and the least protected as they are rendered invisible as victims while remaining visible as offenders. Through a systematic genealogical analysis of international anti-trafficking instruments, the article traces the tension between offenderisation and victimisation in Sweden’s regulatory approach to child criminal exploitation. The analysis reveals a persistent gap between European legal obligations and Swedish domestic implementation. While the European Union Anti-Trafficking Directive explicitly recognises criminal exploitation as a trafficking purpose and mandates non-punishment for victims, Swedish legislation neither incorporates criminal exploitation as a trafficking purpose nor provides a non-punishment provision.