Transcript Hidden Harm Families, drugs and alcohol

Sussex DAAT
Drug and Alcohol Conference
Transcending care and control
A role for restorative justice?
Michael Shiner
London School of Economics
Nigel South (2002: 29):
…now would seem to be a very good time for
policy makers and practitioners to think
sociologically and for sociologists to think
practically.
Overview
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Community responses
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What is RJ?
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The advantages of RJ
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The risks of RJ
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RJ, drugs and alcohol
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Points of intervention
Community responses
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Community as resource
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Community as window dressing
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Conflicts as property
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Community values
What is RJ?
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A new criminal justice paradigm?
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Distinguish offender from offence
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Approach offences in a dynamic way
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Reintegrative and disintegrative shaming
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Communitarian
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Consider interests of victim and offender
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Importance of voluntarism
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Practicalities
Advantages of RJ
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Positive evaluations
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Low recidivism rates
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Meaningful participation
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Higher victim satisfaction
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Flexibility
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Fits with procedural justice
Risks of RJ…
RJ, drugs and alcohol
Braithwaite:
So, restorative justice sidesteps questions of
whether it is right or wrong to punish substance
abuse with the following move. If substance abuse is
part of the story of injustice, part of what is
important to understand to come to terms with the
injustice, then both the substance abuse and the
injustice it causes are likely to be among the things
participants will wish to see healed in the restorative
process.
…one can be a liberal opponent of criminalizing
victimless crime while supporting the criminalization
of effects or forms of substance abuse that do
endanger others. We can be opposed to prohibition
and support drunk driving laws.
Treatment and making amends
Twelve steps:
Members made a list of all persons we had
harmed and became willing to make amends to
them all (step eight)
Members made direct amends to such people
wherever possible, except where to do so would
injure them or others (step nine)
Points of intervention
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Criminal justice settings…
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Schools
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Youth service
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Drugs agencies
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Examples
References
Braithwaite, J. (1989) Crime, shame and
reintegration, Cambridge University Press
Braithwaite, J. (2001) ‘Restorative justice and a
new criminal law of substance abuse’, Youth
and Society, 33 (2): 227-248
Roche, D. (2003) Accountability in Restorative
Justice, Clarendon
Shiner, M., Thom, B., MacGregor, S. with
Gordon, D., and Bailey, M. (2004) Exploring
Community responses to Drugs, Joseph
Rowntree Foundation