Part One: Monastic Life in Late Medieval England

Working County Lines: Child Criminal Exploitation and Illicit Drug Dealing in Glasgow and Merseyside

“…The research was primarily conducted in Liverpool and Sefton, where gangs and organised criminal groups are shown to be the most prevalent. Like Glasgow, Liverpool is well known for gang activity and drug supply, standing as one of the national drug supply hubs (NCA, 2016) and, outside London, has been identified as Britain’s centre for organized crime (Heale, 2012), and second highest exporter of drugs and young people (NCA, 2017). Adding to the growing concerns of practitioners across Merseyside in relation to the age of young people becoming known to services such as Youth Offending Teams (YOT, to supervise young people who have been ordered by the court to serve sentences in the community or in custody) was a stark increase in gun crime and gang-related issues, respectively.…”

“…The role of gangs in serious violence in Britain has been subject to fierce debate (e.g., Gunter, 2017; Hallsworth, 2013; Hallsworth & Young, 2008), but scholars have found relative consensus in the finding that gangs are involved in illicit drug markets (Aldridge, Measham, & Williams, 2011; Bennett & Holloway, 2004; Densley, 2013, 2014; Harding, 2014; McLean, 2018; McLean, Densley, & Deuchar, 2018; McSweeney, Turnbull, & Hough, 2008; Pitts, 2008) and that “illicit drug markets can drive sudden shifts in serious violence” (HM Government, 2018, p. 21). Research in the UK has found that “being in a gang usually means being part of the drugs business” (Heale, 2012, p. 21) and that illegal drug markets were the “single most important theme in relation to the use of illegal firearms” (Hales, Lewis, & Silverstone, 2006, p. XIV). For this reason, gangs’ involvement in drug markets has become a new national priority (HM Government, 2018).…”