Things Aren't so Clear Cut Across County Lines

What does victimhood look like for the over-criminalised?

ART BY RYAN ADEMAN

We’re somewhere in the middle

And what does it mean to be victim and perpetrator at the same time?

In the way that we’ve learned to distinguish between those guilty and innocent, there’s a possibility that we’re ignoring those lost to the grey, and in doing so only ever consider the lesser half of the story when anything is far from being that simple. Of course, most of us would consider it our duty to ‘uphold moral society’ in the way that involves condemning all kinds of crimes, but then we ought to consider where privilege might be propping us up too far on our high horses, when we likely know nothing about the lives of those we’re so quick to criticise.

When the starving man steals a loaf of bread most of us would sympathise with a supposed ‘criminal’, acknowledging where that this is a necessary ‘evil’, paling in comparison to the evils that put him in that place, and so at least we’re able to use discernment. But what happens when things get more complex and other lives are at risk?

Our only guess is that we’d have to find some kind of middle ground, and bathe in the grey for a moment.

To be frank we’re talking about drugs.

Specifically, we’re talking about drug trade as it operates in the UK, in regards to its victims and perpetrators, those it exploits and those who (having been exploited at one point earlier on) have gone on to replicate the same behaviours. Of course, we’re not going to ramble on about the negative effects the ‘drug crisis’ is having on the consumer. In truth, they’re rarely the ones suffering in the discussion surrounding drugs. Naturally there are exceptions, but at the very least the people buying them for recreational use (and not survival for insance) are making some kind of choice.

More crucially, are the instances of what is now being called ‘Modern Day Slavery’ regarding the exploitation of children in drug trafficking, particularly through the expansion of operations accross ‘county lines’ into smaller more remote towns. In 2018, Nigel Stone wrote an article examining a 2015 case study in which a drug dealer from Birmingham was convicted under the Modern Slavery Act for trafficking children to sell drugs, to illustrate the vulnerabilities of children here. ‘Grooming’ is the most important concept to us now, having been officially defined as an instance whereby having built a relationship with a child or vulnerable adult, a person is able to abuse and manipulate them into doing things, with a specific emphasis on sexual of financial favours and other illegal acts. So, when we’re talking about ‘victims’ in relation to drug trade, it’s all about those who are being groomed and those who continue it’s cycle.

We can’t contribute to the minimisation of this issue, which would only further adultify young black boys and men who are already perceived for their supposed ‘threat’ to society.

But then we certainly can’t take the route of the white academic in this discussion. We can’t look at this from a strictly legal standpoint that would demonize even the most vulnerable here, especially those that have faced legal discrimination countless times in the past on account of both their race and class. Last year we saw how the Met Police’s ‘County Lines Strategy’ was based upon racialised tropes, wherein their approach relied on unproven assumptions and a discriminatory database, which would not only discriminate racially, but would of course exclude half the story in reporting these crimes.

Somewhere in the middle, is the proper advocacy for children involved, but not without looking from a bird’s eye view which asks questions about an institutional failure to create conditions that would prevent trafficking and exploitation on this scale. After hiding their hands, authority figures often miss where so-called ‘gang-culture’ and by extension this form of exploitation exists as a mere by product of conditions created long ago, and where victims are often ignored, we also have to examine how these conditions are being maintained by us as well as ‘them’.

Where we’re part of the problem

Originally, The inspiration for this blog post stemmed from seeing multiple tweets regarding missing black children that were dismissed as them simply being in ‘cunch’. Even if it was unintentional, twitter users who were proponents of such ideas upheld this notion that we do not need to worry about these missing children because they have sufficient agency and ‘street smarts’ to take care of themselves. The overarching accusation then became that these children were not ‘innocent’, instead, they were somehow complicit. Reasons for this range from children actively searching for these networks to arguing the money such children received in exchange for their participation was compensation for any potential harm. At the root of both propositions is the idea that young people who are involved in county lines operations are not ‘victims’ and are instead perpetrators due to their willingness to participate and the financial gain involved.

Furthermore, whilst the labels of ‘grooming’ and ‘exploitation’ are similar, people are reluctant to describe this as grooming and are just about willing to begrudge it with the title of exploitation. We’re quite curious about this pedantic distinction, I attributed its existence to the way in which we think about grooming. Instinctively, I connect grooming to sexual exploitation of young girls, the infamous Rochdale child sex abuse ring always comes to mind. County lines operations and the sexual grooming of young girls are viewed as wildly different due to the difference in dynamics between the perpetrators and the victims. In the case of the former there is a significant blurred line which often challenges the validity of their labels as ‘victims’. They have the opportunity to rise up the ranks and become the perpetrator, the one who goes on to send younger generations to transport drugs across county lines. This dynamic differs from the typical way in which we perceive sexual grooming, where the victims are viewed as completely powerless and there are no opportunities for them to become those with the power. Moreover, their engagement with crime makes it more difficult for some to imagine them as the blameless, an identity that is typically banded with victims of grooming.

So the cycle continues

The issue with such arguments is that they neglect to understand the complexity and the weight of the relevant subject terms. This includes ‘grooming’, ‘victim’, and ‘harm’, these are terms that will be unpacked to explain why we believe young people are victims of grooming and exposed to harm when involved in county lines operations. As previously mentioned, the parameters for grooming are broad and incorporate anything in which an older person builds a relationship with the intention of exploitation, according to this definition, young people being involved in county lines operations is a form of grooming. To us, it always seemed like a form of grooming, encouraging young people to conduct illegal activities on your behalf, and by extension shouldering the majority of the responsibility and risk at that stage of the operation.

Whilst some may argue these young people have agency and are cognisant of what they are getting themselves into, this is a poor defence. Whilst they may have limited agency, they are still young. Specifically in the case of young people under the age of 18, the onus is on the surrounding adults to keep them safe and away from harm even if the young person seems intent on pursuing that route. Furthermore, those over the age of 18 should not be dismissed as a sort of lost cause, they still deserve a similar amount of grace, that is, recognising that they are not entirely culpable in the criminal activity and are victims in some sense. Mainstream society tends to hold the belief that once an individual turns 18, they are a full-fledged adult, suddenly endowed with boundless wisdom and agency when that is simply not the case.

Lauren Elizabeth Wroe provides a useful framework for navigating the complex semantics and dynamics involved. We share her view that multiple actors create a binary between ‘evil’ gang members and ‘helpless victims’, when it is not as straightforward as that. She highlighted how the people painted as these ‘evil’ gang members have often been exploited in the same way themselves, which reinforces my earlier point that these young people do have the opportunity of becoming the exploiter of the next generation, continuing a perpetual cycle of crime, harm and exploitation.

Admittedly, we are approaching the conversation as outsiders; we are open to hearing from people who have lived it and experienced it. But the belief that the matter is more than just young people being completely responsible for their actions in the pursuit of ‘quick money’ will not waver, victimhood falls on the shoulders of everyone actively involved, regardless of whether or not they sought out participation.

For the over-criminalised and undercared for, it’s far better to approach the conversation with nuance, bathing in the grey…

Asisa & Adrienne

Resource toolkit:

-Potter Payper interview with The Independent. Potter is one of Adrienne’s favourite artists and is a pertinent example of the nuance surrounding the topic. As a non-black individual who was simultaneously a victim and a perpetrator of county lines operations. The article explored the implications of being involved in such activities at a young age and the harm it produces. Find it here: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/potter-payper-interview-album-b2311114.html

-For more on adultification bias, Jahnine Davis provides an excellent report detailing what it is, the demographics it affects most and what can be done to prevent and mitigate its impact. Davis is well versed on this topic, she has both the academic credentials and the experience regarding child safeguarding and currently sits on the Child Safeguarding Review Panel as of November 2021. Her report is titled Adultification bias within child protection and safeguarding, published by HM Inspectorate of Probation. Find it here: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprobation/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/06/Academic-Insights-Adultification-bias-within-child-protection-and-safeguarding.pdf

-Lauren Elizabeth Wroe, Young people and “county lines”: a contextual and social account. Find it here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348192772_Young_people_and_county_lines_a_contextual_and_social_account

-More on the Rochdale child sex abuse ring can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-17989463

‘Child Criminal Exploitation: ‘County Lines’, Trafficking and Cuckooing’ (Nigel Stone)

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1473225418810833 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/19/police-county-lines-strategy-cruelly-targets-black-youth-in-uk The Guardian on Police Discrimination against young black boys