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All Outputs (6)

The stigma-vulnerability nexus and the framing of drug problems (2022)
Journal Article
Alexandrescu, L., & Spicer, J. (2023). The stigma-vulnerability nexus and the framing of drug problems. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 30(1), 6-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2022.2049214

This paper proposes a stigma-vulnerability nexus as a critical incursion into understandings of and responses to drug-related social problems. Considering stigma and vulnerability as sites of ostensibly empathetic interventions that aim to mitigate t... Read More about The stigma-vulnerability nexus and the framing of drug problems.

The policing of cuckooing in 'County Lines' drug dealing: An ethnographic study of an amplification spiral (2021)
Journal Article
Spicer, J. (2021). The policing of cuckooing in 'County Lines' drug dealing: An ethnographic study of an amplification spiral. British Journal of Criminology, 61(5), 1390-1406. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab027

Responding to cases of 'cuckooing', where drug dealers take over other people's homes, has become a significant policing activity in the United Kingdom. Drawing on ethnographic data and the deviancy amplification spiral model, this article theorizes... Read More about The policing of cuckooing in 'County Lines' drug dealing: An ethnographic study of an amplification spiral.

Between gang talk and prohibition: The transfer of blame for County Lines (2020)
Journal Article
Spicer, J. (2021). Between gang talk and prohibition: The transfer of blame for County Lines. International Journal of Drug Policy, 87, Article 102667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102667

Background The drug supply model termed ‘County Lines’ has generated extensive attention over recent years in the UK. Associated street violence, the involvement of young people and exploitation have been the source of intense concern. However, litt... Read More about Between gang talk and prohibition: The transfer of blame for County Lines.

The variable and evolving nature of ‘cuckooing’ as a form of criminal exploitation in street level drug markets (2019)
Journal Article
Spicer, J., Moyle, L., & Coomber, R. (2020). The variable and evolving nature of ‘cuckooing’ as a form of criminal exploitation in street level drug markets. Trends in Organized Crime, 23, 301-323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-019-09368-5

A form of criminal exploitation rarely mentioned in the academic literature has recently emerged, evolved and taken meaningful hold in the UK. Hundreds of cases of ‘cuckooing’ have been reported, where heroin and crack cocaine dealers associated with... Read More about The variable and evolving nature of ‘cuckooing’ as a form of criminal exploitation in street level drug markets.

‘That’s their brand, their business’: How police officers are interpreting County Lines (2018)
Journal Article
Spicer, J. (2019). ‘That’s their brand, their business’: How police officers are interpreting County Lines. Policing and Society, 29(8), 873-886. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2018.1445742

A recent development in drug markets across England and Wales garnering increased attention is the phenomenon of ‘County Lines’. This involves drug supply groups migrating from major cities to smaller towns, and has become associated with a range of... Read More about ‘That’s their brand, their business’: How police officers are interpreting County Lines.