At least 30,000 children in Mexico are involved in some sort of organized crime , according to a nationwide alliance of civic and social organizations . The Child Rights Network in Mexico says many of these children are taking part because of death threats or because of economic and social necessity . It is urging the government to start recognizing them as victims of child abuse . `` The drug cartels are not training them to be ringleaders , '' spokeswoman Veronica Morales said . `` It is a new form of abuse in which they are being used to commit an offense , to violate the law and to deceive authorities . '' In the past year , there have been numerous headlines of children being arrested in Mexico . Perhaps the most high-profile case involved a 14-year-old boy known as `` El Ponchis '' ( `` The Cloak '' ) . He was found guilty of torturing and beheading at least four people for the South Pacific drug cartel . A month after the boy was sentenced to three years in a correctional facility , a 13-year-old girl was captured in the state of Jalisco and accused of being part of the Zetas drug cartel . Authorities said the girl was receiving 8,000 pesos a month -- almost $ 800 -- for being a lookout . She would let gang members know who was entering and who was leaving Luis Moya , a municipality in north-central Mexico . In January of last year , a 15-year-old boy was captured in Jiutepec , just outside of Mexico City . During an impromptu news conference on the street , the child confessed that he was a lookout for the South Pacific cartel . He said he was collaborating with the cartel because of death threats . Children are easy prey for organized crime because they lack opportunities , said José Luis Cisneros , a sociologist at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City . `` Socially , ( the children ) see the violence as the only way to make people respect them -- and as a way to exercise certain power , something that has been denied to their families , '' Cisneros said . While the Child Rights Network in Mexico said it has documented at least 30,000 kids involved in some criminal group , the Mexican government said it has not . According to the Agence Presse-France , the government told the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child that it does n't have information about minors involved in criminal or armed groups . A legal gap for children ? Civil organizations in Mexico also said law enforcement officials are violating children 's rights when they make arrests . The Child Rights Network in Mexico said it is common for many child suspects -- like the 14-year-old assassin and the 15-year-old boy in Jiutepec -- to be presented to the media without respect for their privacy or their presumption of innocence . `` A youth criminal justice law does not exist , '' Morales said . `` There is a proposal in review in the Congress , but even that one has significant omissions . `` The ( United Nations ) Convention ( on the Rights of the Child ) points out that the children have to be treated and not necessarily imprisoned after having committed a crime . '' Arturo Argente , director of the law faculty at the Monterrey Institute of Technology of Higher Education ( Toluca Campus ) , agrees that Mexican authorities must protect a child 's identity and guarantee that a process will follow `` from a child-abuse angle , as a kid who has been working at an illegal business . '' In addition to that , he said , the children must receive psychological treatment and be taught to respect the law . Morales is calling for a comprehensive law that would `` give attention to the kids '' with specialized courts , judges , lawyers and specialists . `` When there is a child involved in some organized crime act , there is never a suitable investigation , '' she said . `` The authorities justify that it is a drug-trafficking crime and it is treated as a regular case . '' Experts note that arrested children are not the only young people affected by organized crime . In the past five years , from December 2006 to December 2011 , at least 1,188 children have died because of armed clashes , according to the Child Rights Network in Mexico . That represents about 2.5 % of the estimated 47,515 drug-related deaths over the last five years reported by Mexican authorities . The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child confirmed that up until 2010 , 1,000 children had died in acts linked to organized crime .
The past year has seen numerous cases of children being arrested in Mexico . At least half of them are involved in organized crime , says a nationwide group . The group says these children should be treated as innocent victims , not criminals . It is urging the government to rehabilitate the children and protect them .