Abstract
The Scottish government’s (2008) publication ‘The road to recovery: A new approach to tackling Scotland’s drug problem’ elaborates and outlines the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) desire to make Scotland ‘drug free’ by 2019. To achieve this objective, the Scottish Government’s (2015) ‘Serious Organised Crime Strategy’ (SSOCS) entails dismantling networks of drug supply. Yet missing from this strategic planning is a) recognition of how, if at all, different types of gangs are involved in drug supply, and b) how drug supply processes actually work. Therefore, this article seeks to extend McLean’s (J Deviant Behav, 2017) Scottish gang model, which specifies a typology of gangs in Scotland, in an effort to locate precise levels of gang involvement in the drugs market. This is achieved by drawing upon Pearson and Hobbs’ (2001) hierarchical model of the UK’s illegal drug(s) market. In-depth interviews with 35 offenders involved in criminal networks and five practitioners, indicate that recreational Youth Street Gangs are really only involved in ‘social supply’. Youth Criminal Gangs are primarily involved in commercially motivated dealing at the low- to mid-levels, including bulk-buying between the retail-to-wholesale markets. And enterprising Serious Organised Crime Gangs operate from the middle-to-apex market level. Conclusions which situate this gang typology within the illegal drug market(s) are used to put forward recommendations aimed at dismantling of drug supply networks.
Highlights
Scotland has a acute drugs problem both in relation to drug usage and supply (Scottish Government 2009a, 2015)
This study addresses the topic from the perspective of group, or gang, processes and superimposes gang typology over the different levels of Scotland’s illict drugs market(s)
Given that the Glasgow conurbation has continued to display a prevalent and historically embedded gang culture (Davies 2013; Deuchar 2013; Patrick 1973) and likewise retains a disproportional majority (70%) of the country’s OC, 65% of which is directly related to drug supply, the region was considered ideal for carrying out research
Summary
Scotland has a acute drugs problem both in relation to drug usage and supply (Scottish Government 2009a, 2015). Drug supply is delineated under the umbrella term ‘organised crime’ (OC), which, by definition, is perpetrated by ‘Serious Organised Crime Groups’ (SOCGs) Such groups are defined as ‘a) involving more than one person, b) organised, meaning that it involves control, planning and use of specialist resources, c) causes, or has the potential to cause, significant harm, and d) involves benefit to the individuals concerned, financial gain’ (Scottish Government 2015: 6). While such broad definitions of OC are expected in policy circles (see Varese 2010; von Lampe 2016), by incorporating drug supply into the ‘black box’ of OC (see Decker et al 2008), law enforcement neglect potentially important differences within and between crime types and downplay the practical significance of distinct supply typologies (see Coomber and Moyle 2014)
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