Social Dimensions of Illicit Economies: Gender, Vulnerable Groups, and Societal Impacts

This chapter argues that illicit economies are not only criminal markets but social systems that absorb, use, and reproduce vulnerability. It shows how participation in these economies is often driven by constrained survival choices rather than by autonomous criminal intent. Women enter drug markets under conditions of caregiving pressure, debt, and coercion, and are then disproportionately punished despite occupying low-level, high-risk positions. Children, Indigenous communities, and displaced or undocumented populations are systematically targeted because they lack protection, legal status, or alternatives. Mass incarceration further deepens these dynamics by removing caregivers and income from households and destabilising entire neighbourhoods. Finally, the chapter links these patterns to structural inequality and economic extraction, including forced labour and illicit financial outflows. Overall, the analysis suggests that punitive responses often intensify marginalisation and, in doing so, sustain the conditions in which illicit economies continue to function.