Tag: Drug offences

Sentencing under 18s for drug offences – mitigating background factors

R v. Murray (Joel James) [2017] EWCA Crim 2992, [2017] Cr.App.R. (S.) 49(8) The Court of Appeal agreed that the fact that a 17 year-old (19 years at the time of sentencing) had grown up in a household where significant drug dealing was an accepted part of life, if not a way of life, was a […]

Exploitation of children by ‘county lines’ gangs – children should be safeguarded not prosecuted

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has recently published a second report on the drug distribution model known as ‘county lines’ (County Lines Gang Violence, Exploitation & Drug Supply 2016 (November 2016)). Gangs recruit vulnerable people, often children, to act as couriers and to sell drugs. The report identifies the exposure to harm children may face from these gangs and encourages authorities to safeguard rather than prosecute affected children.