Contesting County Lines

Combining a compulsive read with rigorous academic analysis, this book tells the real-life stories of drug dealers involved in county lines networks, including their methods, motives and misfortunes. Conventional wisdom surrounding county lines often portrays drugs runners as exploited victims and gang proliferation as a market-driven exercise, and suggests a business model facilitated exclusively by smart phone technology and routinely regulated by violence. Aimed at students, scholars, practitioners and policymakers, this myth-busting, accessible book offers a novel way of thinking about county lines in relation to gangs and serious organised crime and presents new ideas for drug crime prevention, intervention and enforcement.

Combining a compulsive read with rigorous academic analysis, this book tells the real-life stories of drug dealers involved in county lines networks, including their methods, motives and misfortunes. Conventional wisdom surrounding county lines often portrays drugs runners as exploited victims and gang proliferation as a market-driven exercise, and suggests a business model facilitated exclusively by smart phone technology and routinely regulated by violence. Aimed at students, scholars, practitioners and policymakers, this myth-busting, accessible book offers a novel way of thinking about county lines in relation to gangs and serious organised crime and presents new ideas for drug crime prevention, intervention and enforcement.

Drawing on rich qualitative data, this book presents a novel way of understanding the drug market-related harm of ‘cuckooing’, providing a theoretically informed account of this increasingly high-profile area. Applying the framework of the ‘risk environment’, the book examines why people become cuckooed, how it is responded to and how this exploitative practice is socially produced. In doing so, a diverse range of environments and features relevant to cuckooing are analysed, including the role of housing, political economy, drug policy, policing and social exclusion. By interrogating how these constrain and enable the actions of people who are affected, the book develops a critical analysis that recognises the complexity of cuckooing while eschewing superficial explanations of why it occurs. Resisting simplistic solutions, it also considers what an enabling environment capable of reducing the harms of this exploitative practice might look like. Cuckoo Land will be of interest to academic researchers in the fields of criminology, victimology, social work and drugs. It will also be essential reading for policymakers and practitioners working on the issue of cuckooing.

Described by the National Crime Agency as a ‘significant threat’, county lines involve gangs recruiting vulnerable youth to sell drugs in provincial areas. This phenomenon has impacted local drug markets, increasing criminal activity and violence. Exploring how county lines evolve, Harding reveals extensive criminal exploitation and control in the daily ‘grind’ to sell drugs. Drawing upon extensive interviews and case studies, this timely book gives voice to users and dealers, providing an in-depth analysis of techniques, relationships and ‘trapping’. With county lines now a critical issue for policing and government, this is an invaluable contribution to literature on gangs, youth violence and drugs.

Includes regular and extra sessions; some extra sessions issued as separate vols.