Essential Resource: Debt Bondage in Relation to County Lines from The Children’s Society, September 2022

National organisation The Children’s Society have produced an important guide relating to how debt is used to control children and vulnerable adults for criminal exploitation.

County Lines
County Lines is a term used to describe children and young people, as well as vulnerable adults, being targeted by gangs and organised crime groups.

The targets are then exploited to move and sell drugs, weapons, or other illegal items across the country.

Gangs will often groom children and use threats, violence, and force to control young people.

This often results in young people being forced to travel hundreds of miles and be away from home or care for long periods of time.

What is Debt Bondage?
As mentioned before, gangs will use threats, coercion, and violence to force children to do what they want, and punishments are common for children involved within county lines.

This is usually for mistakes deemed to have been made, and the gang will respond with often physical or financial punishments for the child.

The financial punishments often mean any mistakes made which lose money for the gang must be repaid with an extortionate amount of money added on top as interest - And often this will just keep getting added to.

Gangs may also trick children into getting into their debt, for example, by giving them a mobile phone (or drugs) only to later demand repayment for the cost:

The child would then be in debt bondage to the gang.

Covering more detail about Debt Bondage and County Lines, the guide from The Children’s Society covers how debt is used to control children and vulnerable adults.

Using case studies and other examples, the guide not only explores the approaches taken to trap vulnerable adults into debt and how this leads to exploitation, but also the opportunities to intervene and disrupt such criminal activity.

To read the guide, or for more information, visit The Children’s Society website.