NCJ Number
102892
Date Published
1986
Length
277 pages
Annotation
Papers presented at a 1983 Australian seminar highlight society's response to the alcohol and drug-crime link, society's response to alcohol and drug use, and society's response to drug and alcohol availability through public education efforts and policy changes.
Abstract
The first section presents three papers that examine the drug-crime link from different perspectives. One paper reviews research findings on the drug-crime link. Another examines the dilemmas faced by policymakers trying to identify and break the drug-crime link, and the third expands the perspective on the drug-crime link to include exploitative efforts to increase drug consumption and control certain users by politically and economically powerful groups. Papers in the second section consider particular responses to alcohol and drug use in a variety of contexts. A call for a broader approach in researchers' investigation methods is followed by nine papers on topics ranging from drunk driver programs, therapeutic communities, community service orders and education, to drinking in an Aboriginal community. The third section addresses structural issues such as changing policy and law. Topics include social policy research on how the availability of alcoholic beverages impacts alcohol-related crime, cannabis law, methadone program policy, policing, and New Zealand drug policy. The final section contains recommendations of three working groups on social policy, pretrial diversion, and drug treatment in prisons. For individual papers, see NCJ 102893-904.