Introduction
Youth crime is one of the most serious problems in modern society. It is dangerous due to not only potential harmful behaviors and life risks but also because it impedes general safety, ruins families, and gives rise to other related crime practices. Besides, the evolvement of illicit drug markets contributes to the greater involvement of young people in drug distribution. Moreover, drug trafficking practices are usually based on the participation of youth from problematic families, which emphasizes the importance of considering the social and economic environment in preventing youth crime and drug distribution. In this regard, there is an urgent need to review practices and policies that address the problem of youth participation in drug distribution.
Background
Youth crime is an issue comprising a range of factors. Saladino et al. (2021) suggest that teenagers are more likely to be involved in risky behaviors not only because of cognitive and biological changes but also due to problematic families and difficult relationships with parents. Moreover, socio-economic context also plays an important role. For instance, Hammerton et al. (2019) found that the risk of adverse behaviors in children from low-income countries is higher than those in middle-income ones. In this regard, one can assume that such a tendency may remain in low-income communities of developed countries. The summary made by Higginson et al. (2018) represents a range of factor groups, including individual, peer groups, family, school, and community, that influence the likeliness of gang membership. The majority of pre-conditions to illegal behaviors are related to the social and economic environment.
Illicit drug markets are constantly developing, thus opening new ‘paths’ of generating income for young people studying in various educational institutions and having limited job opportunities. The concept of county lines refers to networks of rapid distribution of drugs throughout a country, particularly the United Kingdom (Holligan et al., 2020; Robinson et al., 2019; Andell and Pitts, 2019; Moyle, 2019). To organize effective distribution, the operatives recruit vulnerable individuals, offering them profit and a sense of social recognition (Holligan et al., 2020; Robinson et al., 2019; Andell and Pitts, 2019; Moyle, 2019). Analyzing the youth involvement in drug distribution, Irwin-Rogers (2019) found that more than 54,217 sentences had been imposed on young people under 25 years for possession and distribution of drugs over the last decade. Such a number of sentences suggests that drug distribution networks are extremely wide, which makes them difficult to track.
Young drug users have multiple illicit substance supply sources. Bennett and Holloway (2019) investigated that students usually buy marijuana through university friends (65%) and friends at home (55%) in the U.S. In England and Wales, the common sources are drug shops, strangers, family members, dealers, and the Internet (Bennett and Holloway, 2019). Moreover, using a combination of drug supply sources is also possible (Bennett and Holloway, 2019). The findings given above suggest that the prevention of youth drug distribution may face numerous problems.
Challenges
Challenges in Combating Youth Crime
Preventing or combating youth crime requires huge efforts at different levels. Benbow (2019) says that initiatives related to retaining young people aged 16-17 on Compulsory Supervision Orders (CSOs) faced particular barriers in Scotland. First, retaining youth of this age in the Children’s Hearings System (CHS) should be considered appropriate and reasonable (Benbow, 2019). Moreover, international legislation regards people under 18 as children who require the relevant treatment, and such structures as the CHS may have a damaging impact on youth (Benbow, 2019). The issue becomes more aggravated when it comes to retaining young individuals on supervision in practice because this social category has diverse needs, which requires employees of judicial systems to work beyond their responsibilities (Benbow, 2019). As one can see, the youth justice system contains a number of barriers on the way to improving the situation.
The problem of gang membership related to drug distribution also poses significant difficulties. A gang often becomes a ‘family’ for young people with poor school bonding and social relationships because it offers friendship, the development of identity and self-esteem, as well as protection and emotional bonding (Wood, 2019). Besides, it is inherent for gangs to have specific rules and norms that simplify the social interaction between the members, thus impeding relationships with prosocial and non-criminal peers and promoting pro-violence attitudes (Wood, 2019). In view of this, gang members show a tendency to have the symptoms of perpetrator-induced PTSD and depression, which negatively influences their ability to engage in anti-criminal intervention programs (Wood, 2019). It is possible to assume that the challenges also occur at the individual level.
Challenges in Combating Drug Distribution
Drug trafficking should also be addressed at various levels as this problem is large-scale and precedes youth engagement in crime. It is necessary to understand that drug distribution networks can be spread far beyond the national borders of a country. In view of this, drugs are often supplied as smuggled goods. Luong (2019) describes establishing the Border Liaison Offices (BLOs) comprising trained staff, such as border guards and customs officers, as a supposedly effective option for coordinating joint actions in preventing the import of drugs. In reality, the BLOs often have limited material means and insufficiency of professionals in this field, which impedes cross-border cooperation (Luong, 2019). Moreover, with the lack of trained staff, the risk of bribery and the collaboration of officers with criminals grows.
Besides, there are many barriers at the national level, which do not allow efficient addressing of drug distribution. Silva and Pereira (2019) discuss the concept of securitization encompassing three steps, namely (1) the identification of a potential threat, (2) the legalization of temporary suspension of existing regulations, and (3) the implementation of emergency actions. In the context of confronting drug trafficking, this process often encounters obstacles. First, specific and exclusive legislation may not exist, or it is in the improvement stage (Silva and Pereira, 2019). Second, approaches to governmental intervention are developed and can be revised many times (Silva and Pereira, 2019). This means that securitization may be an exceedingly time-consuming process that complicates the implementation of effective measures.
There is no universal method to stop drug trafficking because many factors impact the effectiveness of specific policies. Khamidov (2018) suggests that acute attention should be drawn to confronting drug distributors. However, considering different modes of punishment, including long-term sentencing and the death penalty, in a range of countries, one can assume that these methods are not suitable for young offenders as they can have drastic consequences. On the contrary, the legalization of drugs is not a warranty against drug crimes among youth. The experiences from different states show that such an action can lead to widespread drug addiction, as happened in China, Sweden, and Spain (Khamidov, 2018). Moreover, lifting a ban on the sale of particular drugs can also lead to an increase in the scale of black markets.
Combatting Youth Involvement in
Drug Distribution
On the one hand, the barriers to confronting youth engagement in drug distribution are exceedingly complicated, and any endeavors look hopeless. On the other hand, there are approaches that can minimize youth involvement rates. In 2018, the U.K. government launched a public health program aimed at tackling youth violence, similar to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit (Wood, 2019). The initiative is based on two principles, namely engaging various professionals (health care workers, police, and social workers) to provide education and support and targeting whole young populations instead of focusing on high-risk groups (Wood, 2019). Thus, dissemination of knowledge can help reduce the scale of youth engagement in drug-related crime, though it cannot completely liquidate the issue.
In addition, there is a need to address the problem of preventing adverse consequences when young people are already brought to responsibility for drug distribution. The pre-referral screening system (PRS) is the option that can prevent the unintended consequences of exposing youth to formal interventions (Benbow, 2019). One of the main advantages of the system is proportional and informal dealing with youth offenses, which allows for avoiding formal interventions (Benbow, 2019). Moreover, the PRS process has more efficient mechanisms to work on low-tariff offenses committed by young people (Benbow, 2019). Besides preventing excessive paperwork for children’s reporters and social workers, the PRS system makes offense referrals to higher authorities more appropriate in terms of further youth hearings (Benbow, 2019). Therefore, methods of legislation and justice systems have to be altered to ensure a complex approach to addressing the problem.
Re-thinking the approaches to combating drug trafficking and following youth crime can provide highlights into developing new methods. The decisions to criminalize particular behaviors influence the implementation of policies, particularly in housing and transportation systems, which in turn lead to the development of offending careers (Farrall et al., 2020). For example, the black population in the U.S. suffered residential instability and family difficulties due to specific decisions and policies (Farrall et al., 2020). The economic slowdown in the 1970s led to a reduction of manufacturing jobs that did not require high education levels (Farrall et al., 2020). Against such a background, people tend to find ways to survive and thus opt for illegal sources of income. Therefore, the development of anti-drug policies requires the evaluation of the social and economic contexts of a state.
Conclusion
Finally, youth involvement in drug distribution remains one of the most complicated problems in the justice system because it is related to social, political, psychological, and other aspects. Young people, especially those with poor social relations, are at the highest risk of becoming members of gangs, which aggravates the problem. Moreover, the mechanisms of confronting drug trafficking are constantly developing and implemented, though they still have a number of limitations. Nevertheless, there is an option to introduce public health interventions that spread knowledge among young people, thus mitigating the risks of youth involvement in crime practices. Since formal approaches to the justice system can lead to adverse consequences in young people, the pre-referral screening system can be recommended. Besides, there is a need to consider social and economic changes on the national level to prevent the development of criminal behaviors.
Reference List
Andell, P. and Pitts, J. (2018) ‘The end of the line? the impact of county lines drug distribution on youth crime in a target destination’, Youth & Policy. Web.
Benbow, N. L. (2019) Preventing youth crime in Scotland: the practices of early intervention and diversion under ‘whole system approach’ implementation. PhD Thesis. University of Stirling. Web.
Bennett, T. and Holloway, K. (2019) ‘How do students source and supply drugs? Characteristics of the university illegal drug trade’, Substance Use & Misuse, 54(9), pp. 1530-1540. Web.
Farrall, S., Gray, E. and Jones, P. M. (2020) ‘Politics, social and economic change, and crime: exploring the impact of contextual effects on offending trajectories’, Politics & Society, 48(3), pp. 357-388. Web.
Hammerton, G., Murray, J., Maughan, B., Barros F. C., Gonçalves, H., Menezes, A. M. B., Wehrmeister, F. C., Hickman, M. and Heron, J. (2019) ‘Childhood behavioural problems and adverse outcomes in early adulthood: a comparison of Brazilian and British birth cohorts’, Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, 5, pp. 517–535. Web.
Higginson, A., Benier, K., Shenderovich, Y., Bedford, L., Mazerolle, L. and Murray, J. (2018) ‘Factors associated with youth gang membership in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review’, Campbell Systematic Reviews, 14(1), pp. 1-128. Web.
Holligan, C., McLean, R. and McHugh, R. (2020) ‘Exploring county lines: criminal drug distribution practices in Scotland’, Youth Justice, 20(1-2), pp. 50-63. Web.
Irwin-Rogers, K. (2019) ‘Illicit drug markets, consumer capitalism and the rise of social media: a toxic trap for young people’, Critical Criminology, 27, pp. 591-610. Web.
Khamidov, N. (2018) ‘Criminal-legal aspects of the drug abuse in some countries and imposed approaches against it’, International Journal of Legal Studies, 2(4), pp. 177-183. Web.
Luong, H. T. (2019) ‘Drug production, consumption, and trafficking in the Greater Mekong sub-region’, Asian Survey, 59(4), pp. 717-737. Web.
Moyle, L. (2019) ‘Situating vulnerability and exploitation in street-level drug markets: cuckooing, commuting, and the “county lines” drug supply model’, Journal of Drug Issues, 49(4), pp. 739-755. Web.
Robinson, G., McLean, R. and Densley, J. (2019) ‘Working county lines: child criminal exploitation and illicit drug dealing in Glasgow and Merseyside’, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 63(5), pp. 694-711. Web.
Saladino, V., Mosca, O., Petruccelli, F., Hoelzlhammer, L., Lauriola, M., Verrastro, V. and Cabras, C. (2021) ‘The vicious cycle: problematic family relations, substance abuse, and crime in Adolescence: a narrative review’, Frontiers in Psychology, 12, pp. 1-14. Web.
Silva, C. C. V. e and Pereira, A. E. (2019) ‘International security and new threats: securitisation and desecuritisation of drug trafficking at the Brazilian borders’, Contexto Internacional, 41(1), pp. 209-234. Web.
Wood, J. L. (2019) ‘Confronting gang membership and youth violence: intervention challenges and potential futures’, Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 29(2), pp. 69-73. Web.