Clare, Isobel Margaret (2024) “Under the radar”: the experiences of women in county lines gangs in North Yorkshire. Doctoral thesis, York St John University.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the experiences of women in county lines gangs in North Yorkshire. The views of women gang members have historically been silenced by research; this thesis is the first to centre their voices in understanding their gendered experiences within county lines gangs. Their views were gathered through a series of in-depth interviews. Support and criminal justice workers were also interviewed and provided useful policy and practice context. Through an exploration of these women’s routes into, through, and, where applicable, out of county lines gangs, a roadmap is
developed to understand these experiences. Using an intersectional feminist lens, these journeys are shown to be characterised by fear, violence, and a lack of freedom. This thesis develops the concept of coercive control as a tool, following Havard et al. (2021), to understand how these women have their options limited by specific tactics deployed by county lines gangs. Further, county lines gangs exploit patriarchal assumptions around women’s passivity and domesticity to maximise profit for the gang’s drug operations whilst outsourcing risk to women. Throughout this thesis, the structure and operations of these gangs are shown to be reflections of broader, intersectionally oppressive, power structures. Indeed, women’s choices are further constrained by a lack of safe alternative options
provided by services, resulting from a social context which does not prioritise their well-being. Thus, county lines gangs enact patriarchal power-over women, limiting their choices, and this is enabled by an intersectionally oppressive social structure which serves to reduce women’s options and thereby limit their freedom. As highlighted in the recommendations from this thesis, the remedy to this is to empower women through providing them with meaningful opportunities to make free choices between and within safe alternative pathways.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Status:	Published
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
School/Department:	York Business School
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/11429

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