Shielding vulnerable youth from organised crime
Criminologist and researcher Emma Tufuga has highlighted how vulnerable young people are being exploited by organised crime, including drug syndicates.
In an impassioned Opinion piece Dr Tufuga, from the National Drug Research Institute and Justice Health Group at Curtin University, demonstrated how organised crime is using false promises, peer pressure and the lure of fast money to attract vulnerable young people in the Pacific region into crime. The issue has also been prominent recently in Australia.
“In organised crime, the people we see are not always the people in control. Too often, it is the young men at the bottom who are left exposed. They are the ones arrested, named in the news, locked away, and remembered with shame. Meanwhile, those who recruit them…and profit from their actions often remain out of sight,” Emma wrote.
“This is how organised crime protects itself. It places the greatest risk on those with the least power. Young people become useful because they are visible, replaceable and easier to abandon.”
Click here to read the full Opinion piece
Posted on: 2 Jun 2026
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