Suchergebnisse

Introduction : drugs, freedom and liberalism -- A conceptual map : freedom, the "will" and addiction -- Opium, regulation and classical liberalism : the Pharmacy act 1868 -- Drugs, prohibition and welfarism : the Dangerous drugs act 1920 -- Drugs, risk and neo-liberalism : the Drugs act 2005 -- Drugs as a regulation and governance problem -- Conclusions : drugs and freedom in the liberal age.

After a century of international drug prohibition, and amidst growing consensus that it has been a costly policy failure, arguments for drug law reform are gathering momentum globally. Despite a large body of empirically oriented policy research, the area remains underdeveloped conceptually and theoretically. This article seeks to address this gap by assembling some intellectual resources for a critical socio-legal analysis of drug law reform, drawing on insights from regulation studies, economics, political economy and economic sociology. Reframing the problem as one of market regulation, and using Shearing's constitutive approach, opens up some new ways of thinking about how drug laws function and the possibilities for reform. It also highlights the importance of taking normative thinking about drug policy futures seriously. In conclusion, it is suggested that a new concept of exchangespace may be key to further theoretical development in this field.

In July 1999, radical and controversial proposals were put forward by the UK government for a new approach to the management of dangerous individuals with severe personality disorders. The Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD) programme involved service development and research but its most contentious part was the proposal for new legislation to provide civil and criminal powers for the detention of DSPD individuals in new specialist high-secure units. The programme has been viewed by many commentators as evidence that concerns about risk have become the over-riding driver of contemporary mental health and penal policy and it has been described as a `psychiatric manifestation of the risk society'. In this article, it is argued that while the DSPD initiative does indeed embody the ascendance of `risk thinking' in recent years, the idea of risk needs to be broadened out and understood as a complex, multi-faceted and mobile formation. Crucially, it needs to be viewed in a more `substantively political light' rather than simply as a technocratic or instrumental development.

Abstract: This article examines the UK government's recent prison drug control strategy. The focus is on the control aspects of the proposals, for example, tightening security and the introduction of mandatory urine testing. A national telephone survey of prison Heads of Custody reveals broad support for the strategy but indicates that there are certain tensions and conflicts within it. These tensions are likely to make implementation problematic and limit its effectiveness. It is argued that, given the complexity of the prison system, a drug strategy needs to be firmly embedded within overall prison and penal strategies.

"While regulatory institutions and strategies have been the subject of increasing academic attention, there has been limited application of regulatory theories to criminal justice scholarship. This collection of essays from a range of outstanding international scholars adopts a critical, inter-disciplinary approach, providing an innovative application of regulatory theory to the practice of criminal justice and offering suggestions for further research. Part I explores the aims and values of criminal justice and other regulatory networks and the synergies and tensions between these fields; Part II examines criminal justice as a regulatory force to control 'deviant' and anti-social behaviour and Part III examines the regulation and oversight of criminal justice through the operation of prison inspectorates and explores notions of responsive justice"--

Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Tables, Figures and Boxes -- Part I Introduction -- 1 Substance Abuse: A Growing Social Problem -- Introduction to the study of drug abuse -- Perspectives and definitions -- The role of public policy -- The use of science -- Multivariate thinking and orientation -- Book content and organization -- 2 Prevalence of Drug Use and Abuse -- Drug use and abuse -- Variations in drug use and drug users -- Variations in use of major illicit drugs -- Implications of substance use disorder -- Emerging drug problems -- 3 Old and New Prohibitions Against Alcohol and Opiates -- Substances through time -- Toward prohibition -- Regulation and prohibition -- Outcomes of prohibition -- Prohibition and regulation compared -- The new prohibition: war on drugs -- The effects of the new prohibition -- Summary -- 4 Social Marketing Perspective -- The economics of drug trafficking and dealing -- Traffickers' and dealers' responses to prohibition -- Restrained and unrestrained markets -- Mass marketing of heroin: first wave -- Mass marketing of cocaine: second wave -- Conclusion -- Part II Theoretical Perspectives -- 5 Sociological Perspectives -- Importance of theory -- Structural theories of drug abuse -- Social psychological theories of drug abuse -- Social explanations: integrating theories and research -- 6 Criminological Perspectives -- The sociology of deviance -- From deviance to normalization -- Drugs and crime -- New criminologies of everyday life -- Conclusion -- 7 Psychological Perspectives -- Psychodynamic approaches -- A trauma-related approach: adverse childhood experiences -- Social learning -- Learning theory and behaviourism -- Cognitive psychology -- Family systems -- Summary -- 8 Physiological Perspectives -- The physical correlates of drug abuse.