Background: Illicit drug markets have long been characterised by unequal and sometimes exploitative relationships between those who organise and those who undertake retail sales. This presentation explores how potential victims of drug-related criminal exploitation (DR-CE) are situated discursively and in criminal justice processing systems across six European countries.

Methods: Data derives from individual and team research stemming from Denmark, the Republic of Ireland, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the UK supported by expert reflection on research evidence and analysis of criminal justice processing and media reporting. In each context, we mapped to what extent DR-CE is recognised as a problem of concern; how the problem of DR-CE is discursively framed; what laws are used to prosecute DR-CE offenders; and to what extent DR-CE victimhood is acknowledged in legal frameworks and sentencing practices.

Results: Findings suggest that DR-CE is present in all contexts, that its degree of socio-legal visibility varies and that “offender” versus “victim” narratives continue to dominate the extent to which DR-CE victims are accommodated as such. Most notably, we found that national differences in applied legal frameworks (human trafficking laws vs. anti-recruitment statutes), structures both the discursive framing of the DR-CE problem, and the recognition of victimhood and experiences of harm by e.g. exploited minors.

Conclusion: Based on the findings, we discuss how the implementation of different penal approaches has profound consequences for vulnerable groups who are victims of drug market exploitation, and how we might develop policies that move beyond a normative dichotomization of “victim” and “offender” identities.