This document summarizes a television program about youth addiction in the London borough of Brent. It profiles 17-year-old Daryl, who turned to drug use and dealing to cope with difficulties in his life, including an alcoholic mother and responsibility of caring for his younger brothers. Living in poverty and with few support systems, Daryl felt drugs were an easy way to earn money and ease his troubles. He is now recovering with help from a youth worker and support at school. The program also features interviews with a police officer discussing drug crimes in Brent and a teacher discussing Daryl's improved focus in school now that he is receiving assistance.

1. Crime script
BBC Three titles with voiceover
Voiceover: Coming up later Russell gives us all the good news, but now our final
installment in our young crime and punishment season, its Young Addiction.
Opens with up beat tense continuous music.
Voiceover: In Britain today 33,902 young people were sentenced in England and
Wales between 2013-2014. Particularly in the London borough of Brent 28.8%
of young people are living in poverty leading them to a life of drug taking and
selling to make life easier.
Coming up on young addiction we talk to drug addled youth about their difficult
past and what they have been facing.
Insert clip of Megan
Interviewee: Living with this has been difficult, I’ve been trying so hard to move
past this, they pressured me into taking drugs which I thought I’d never do, I
guess now I can really see who my friends are. It’s not just been affecting me but
my loved ones too. My school was effected, I may never get into a good
university, I wish I hadn’t listened and followed the crowd, I think I’ve learnt my
lesson.
Cut to clip of police officer
Police Officer: I’d say Brent is one of the hardest boroughs in London to be
brought up. The crime rate of young people is considerably high, for example
between October 2014 to September 2015 there were 68 drug offences which
accounted for 5.75% of all crime within the area making it relatively easy to get
your hands on it. Some do it for fun, but most have hidden reasons and it’s up to
us to figure these out and help them as much as we can.
TITLE – YOUNG ADDICTION
Voiceover: Seventeen-year-old Daryl has been brought up in Brent his whole life
in a small flat with his two younger brothers and just his mum. This has been
difficult being the man of the house with his mother suffering from alcohol abuse
and having to take care of his younger brothers. To cope with this situation,
Daryl was led to a life of drug use and selling to pay for his family.
Cut to Daryl
Interviewer: Why did you take this path of drug use?
Daryl: It was the first thing that came to my mind. All my friends and people
around my estate were doing it so it seemed like an easy option to get money for
my family. My mum doesn’t have a job and I have school so I can’t get one and

2. there’s no one to look after my younger brothers. It’s been really hard to take
control of everything alone and I needed to ease my mind and get away from all
these troubles so I’d take it, too.
Interviewer: You’re recovering now, how much is your young worker helping
you?
Daryl: She’s been really helpful. We just talk about what I’m going through and
how she can help make life a bit easier without going down this path again.
Everyone there has been so helpful and understanding that I wish I’d been able
to see them before it got out of hand.
Cut to youth worker
Youth worker: I’ve been seeing Daryl for the past few months and he’s making
outstanding improvement. He really wants our help to put him back on track and
be able to get a good education and have more support at home. For a lot of these
years he has been on his own attempting to cope with everything and he’s not a
bad person at all, he just got caught up in the wrong things with the wrong
people. All over the country there are young people just like him that are
desperate for help and support and I feel instead of just naming them as no-good,
bored, violent youth, they should, mostly be seen, as young people that need the
attention of those who can help them.
Cut to Daryl
Interviewer: How were you coping with education whilst dealing with all this?
Daryl: I wasn’t focusing at school, half the time I didn’t turn up, I would argue
with teachers and cause fights at school with people, it wasn’t a good place for
me to be in this state. Since I’ve been getting help I’ve realized that I need it to get
a good job to support myself and my family not just for now but for my future.
My teachers at school have been supportive since they realized what was going
on and they haven’t abandoned me.
Cut to teacher
Teacher: Before we found out his true situation we knew there were things
going on at home which we did try and talk to him about it but Daryl was very
argumentative and was in denial, being unable to talk to us about it. But since he
had started to get help we could support him a lot more, he’s been focusing in
school without having to worry about what is going on at home as much and can
focus on himself with recovering and getting a good education.
End of part one