RT Article
T1 Working County Lines: Child Criminal Exploitation and Illicit Drug Dealing in Glasgow and Merseyside
JF International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
VO 63
IS 5
SP 694
OP 711
A1 Robinson, Grace
A1 McLean, Robert
A1 Densley, James A. 1982-
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1667807668
AB This article explores recent developments within the U.K. drug market: that is, the commuting of gang members from major cities to small rural urban areas for the purpose of enhancing their profit from drug distribution. Such practice has come to be known as working "County Lines." We present findings drawn from qualitative research with practitioners working to address serious and organized crime and participants involved in street gangs and illicit drug supply in both Glasgow and Merseyside, United Kingdom. We find evidence of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) in County Lines activity, often as a result of debt bondage; but also, cases of young people working the lines of their own volition to obtain financial and status rewards. In conclusion, we put forward a series of recommendations which are aimed at informing police strategy, practitioner intervention, and wider governmental policy to effectively address this growing, and highly problematic, phenomenon.
K1 Gangs
K1 County lines
K1 Child criminal exploitation
K1 Drug supply
K1 Organized crime
K1 Drogenhandel
K1 Kinder
K1 Drogenkurier
DO 10.1177/0306624X18806742