Criminal gangs are using drugs, alcohol and the notion of status to attract children into a life of crime, according to new research by the University of Limerick on the impact of criminal networks on young people.
The report is the result of a four-year study of a criminal network and its impact on boys and young men as well as the local community.
The location of the study has been kept anonymous to prevent young people and the community being identified.
The research shows that children were offered access to drugs, alcohol and the notion of status from being associated with the network.
But once children were engaged in relationships with leaders of the gang, it became very difficult for them to leave.
Acts of violence were used as punishment for members.
The report recommends that its findings should be used to design more effective programmes of intervention for children involved in criminal networks.
The author of the study said the network was based around a family and kinship group where a number of children became engaged to carry out offences, particularly burglary offences.
Professor of Law at the University of Limerick Sean Redmond said there are very strong processes engaging children and it was not a network one could buy in or buy out of.
Speaking on RTE's Morning Ireland, Prof Redmond said it is a "very complicated situation and understanding what makes these networks tick is the first step in trying to engage them in a way that will try and reduce their influence".
The vast majority of children grow out of crime, he added.
He said this research, which was commissioned five years ago, will now be funded and replicated by the Department of Justice and Equality in other locations around the country.
He said they will also work with national and international experts to try to build a new programme in 2017.
