Low-Level Drug Supply Offences: Reimagining Sentencing Futures.
Lead Research Organisation:
Plymouth University
Department Name: School of Society and Culture
Abstract
Drug supply offences are the most serious in the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971). In 2019, over 10,5000 offenders were sentenced for supply, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and 96% of Class A supply offences receiving immediate or suspended custodial sentence (Sentencing Council 2021b).
Though existing law has defined supply broadly as a transfer of physical control of a controlled drug to another, it does not differentiate between 'low-level' acts of supply - e.g. supply undertaken to support an addiction or 'social supply' where recreational drug users exchange drugs with friends or acquaintances for little or no profit, and commercial drug dealing proper. It is now increasingly recognised that supply encompasses a range of different behaviours such as those outlined above, that some suppliers do more harm than others, and that those producing less harm should receive proportionately less severe penalties from the criminal justice system (UNODC 2015).
While the Sentencing Council have sought to acknowledge varying levels of culpability and harm in supply through implementation of the Drug Offences Definitive Guideline (2012), research shows emergent evidence of 'manifestly excessive' outcomes for low-level supply cases (Moyle et al., 2013). University students and young drug users, for example, become entangled in law and a sentencing apparatus that they were not the intended target for becoming subject to imprisonment for accessing drugs on behalf of friends (see 'Anyone's Child' letter of support). In heroin and crack cocaine markets, vulnerable drug dependent populations are exploited into undertaking street-level labour for 'County Lines' groups. Rather than being treated as drug market labourers in need of support and safeguarding, they are sentenced as profit motivated 'drug dealers', thereby becoming the collateral for those operating at the higher echelons of the drugs market.
Despite advocacy groups and small-scale academic studies pointing to disproportionate outcomes for low-level suppliers, there is a clear evidence gap in this area. This is because drug supply offences are presented as part of broad datasets that do not distinguish between commercial organised drug dealing and low-level supply. The absence of finely grained data means there is no effective analysis of different forms of supply in England and Wales.
This project responds to this gap through bringing together unique expertise in the fields of criminology, criminal law and statistical modelling to create the first mapping of different supply offences and corresponding sentencing outcomes. It will explore how the existing sentencing framework in England and Wales (2012) impacts in particular on outcomes for low-level suppliers. Drawing on a mixed methods approach, the project harnesses the Crown Court and Magistrates Sentencing Survey to produce descriptive analysis mapping of offence/offender characteristics, procedural data, and sentencing outcomes for different types of drug supply. Utilising in-depth interviews, participant diaries, rapid ethnography and Court of Appeal analysis, it will also evaluate the extent to which the structure and interpretation of drug sentencing guidelines promotes consistency and proportionality in low-level supply, and the impact of this sentencing on people sentenced for low-level supply offences.
Outputs have been designed in collaboration with project supporters and partners - most notably Release, Anyone's Child, the Howard Society for Penal Reform and the Police Foundation, and are designed to maximise user-impact. Findings from the project will form the basis of a public awareness campaign and inform training for key agencies. A website and repository of evidence-based resources will include research digests, infographics, and education materials both for people who use drugs, and for practitioners and policy makers with a stake in the prosecution and sentencing process.
Though existing law has defined supply broadly as a transfer of physical control of a controlled drug to another, it does not differentiate between 'low-level' acts of supply - e.g. supply undertaken to support an addiction or 'social supply' where recreational drug users exchange drugs with friends or acquaintances for little or no profit, and commercial drug dealing proper. It is now increasingly recognised that supply encompasses a range of different behaviours such as those outlined above, that some suppliers do more harm than others, and that those producing less harm should receive proportionately less severe penalties from the criminal justice system (UNODC 2015).
While the Sentencing Council have sought to acknowledge varying levels of culpability and harm in supply through implementation of the Drug Offences Definitive Guideline (2012), research shows emergent evidence of 'manifestly excessive' outcomes for low-level supply cases (Moyle et al., 2013). University students and young drug users, for example, become entangled in law and a sentencing apparatus that they were not the intended target for becoming subject to imprisonment for accessing drugs on behalf of friends (see 'Anyone's Child' letter of support). In heroin and crack cocaine markets, vulnerable drug dependent populations are exploited into undertaking street-level labour for 'County Lines' groups. Rather than being treated as drug market labourers in need of support and safeguarding, they are sentenced as profit motivated 'drug dealers', thereby becoming the collateral for those operating at the higher echelons of the drugs market.
Despite advocacy groups and small-scale academic studies pointing to disproportionate outcomes for low-level suppliers, there is a clear evidence gap in this area. This is because drug supply offences are presented as part of broad datasets that do not distinguish between commercial organised drug dealing and low-level supply. The absence of finely grained data means there is no effective analysis of different forms of supply in England and Wales.
This project responds to this gap through bringing together unique expertise in the fields of criminology, criminal law and statistical modelling to create the first mapping of different supply offences and corresponding sentencing outcomes. It will explore how the existing sentencing framework in England and Wales (2012) impacts in particular on outcomes for low-level suppliers. Drawing on a mixed methods approach, the project harnesses the Crown Court and Magistrates Sentencing Survey to produce descriptive analysis mapping of offence/offender characteristics, procedural data, and sentencing outcomes for different types of drug supply. Utilising in-depth interviews, participant diaries, rapid ethnography and Court of Appeal analysis, it will also evaluate the extent to which the structure and interpretation of drug sentencing guidelines promotes consistency and proportionality in low-level supply, and the impact of this sentencing on people sentenced for low-level supply offences.
Outputs have been designed in collaboration with project supporters and partners - most notably Release, Anyone's Child, the Howard Society for Penal Reform and the Police Foundation, and are designed to maximise user-impact. Findings from the project will form the basis of a public awareness campaign and inform training for key agencies. A website and repository of evidence-based resources will include research digests, infographics, and education materials both for people who use drugs, and for practitioners and policy makers with a stake in the prosecution and sentencing process.
