Drugs, Crime, & Justice: Contemporary Perspectives

Book Description
This collection addresses one of the most difficult issues in criminal justice--what to do about drugs and drug-related crimes. Carefully chosen to present multiple issues, the articles discuss various aspects of and approaches to substance use. The wealth of information presented provides readers with the background necessary to understand the multifaceted dimensions of drugs.

From the Publisher
Title of related interest from Waveland Press: Manning, The Narcs' Game: Organizational and Informational Limits on Drug Law Enforcement, Second Edition (ISBN 1577662407).

From the Author
"No matter which direction our focus turned--social inequality, media coverage of crime, criminal justice as industry, racism, crime causation, prison overcrowding, or expanding police powers--we bumped into substance abuse and drug wars as an influential dimension for each. It became clear that understanding crime and justice issues requires a sound understanding of the nature of substance abuse and our society's reaction to it." (from the Preface)


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The relationship between drugs, society's response to drugs, and crime is far more complex than the "drugs cause crime" narrative offered by most proponents of the "war on drugs." Gaines (California State U. at San Bernardino) and Kraska (Eastern Kentucky U.) offer this reader as a window into the theoretical complexity of thinking about such relationships from criminological and sociological perspectives. Twenty contributions, organized in six sections, look at the sources and markets for drugs, explore the extent to which drug laws may exacerbate crime, look at discriminatory enforcement of drug laws, and debate policies of drug education. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


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