Youth Involvement in “County Lines”: Understanding a Socially Embedded Illicit Economy in the United Kingdom

This chapter examines youth involvement in the United Kingdom’s “county lines” as a socially embedded illicit economy rather than a purely criminal or safeguarding crisis. It argues that county lines recruit, organise, and discipline young labour through informal hierarchies, work-like routines, and coercive governance—especially debt, surveillance, and the credible threat of violence. Drawing on criminological, youth studies, and safeguarding literatures, the chapter shows how recruitment unfolds through everyday peer relations and incremental tasks that are framed as work, loyalty, and survival, producing a form of constrained agency in which harm and strategy coexist. Inside the networks, risk is systematically displaced onto young people in the most visible, mobile, and replaceable roles, while senior actors remain insulated from frontline exposure. Exit from county lines is typically fragile: threats, fabricated debts, stigma, criminal records, and the loss of income, identity, and belonging all undermine sustained disengagement. The policy discussion argues for responses that move beyond the punishment/protection binary by combining targeted disruption with long-term inclusion: education and employment pathways, housing stability, credible protection, and support that recognises both exploitation and agency. It also highlights the need to strengthen coordinated, multi-agency practice in order to rebuild trust with young people and provide long-term safeguarding support.