Not Thinking Like a Lawyer: The Case of Drugs in the Courts (From Drugs, Crime, and Justice: Contemporary Perspectives, P 321-356, 1997, Larry K Gaines and Peter B Kraska, eds. -- See NCJ-165819)

• NCJ Number: 165834
• Author(s): S Wisotsky
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 36 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

Based on a review of the attitudes of appellate judges in opinions dealing with the drug issues, the author contends that courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have not advanced intelligent debate about drug policies.

Abstract

Judges who have been called upon to answer drug law policy questions arising as issues of statutory interpretation or constitutional challenge have abandoned the method of fact-based, reasoned elaboration that is the essence of thinking like a lawyer or deciding like a judge. In place of careful analysis, judges have attempted to justify drug law decisions with misinformation or inflammatory rhetoric. Case examples are provided to demonstrate the strong, emotional, and irrational attitudes surrounding drug issues. Ethical implications of the judicial abdication of responsibility for critical analysis of government claims about drugs and drug abuse are examined. The need for fresh drug perspectives is emphasized, and an agenda for future research is presented. 128 endnotes