Paul J. Turnbull

Demand Reduction Activities in the Criminal Justice System in the European Union

With increased prisoner numbers, many European Union member states have begun to consider the possibility of drug demand reduction interventions within the criminal justice system. In this paper the results of a six month study of drug demand reduction activity within the criminal justice system (CJS) of the member states of the European Union are presented.The extent of activity at the arrest stage varies widely between states. The two most common objectives of interventions aimed at drug using arrestees are to provide information and to encourage contact with treatment services. The extent of activity at the court stage was difficult to establish, however, in many countries legislation exists which extends the possibility of drug treatment as an alternative to a legal sanction. There is a considerable and increasing range of interventions focused on drug users in prison. All countries provide some form of demand reduction activity within this context. Many respondents indicated a very low level of drug ...

Drug testing and court review hearings: uses and limitations

The ability of the UK criminal justice system to divert drug-dependent offenders into treatment has been enhanced during recent years. Despite the rapid expansion of such coercive measures, research findings to date are equivocal about their impact. This article draws on qualitative data from in-depth interviews with professionals and those mandated to treatment by the courts to assess the uses and limitations of two defining features of court-ordered drug treatment in Britain and elsewhere — drug testing and court review hearings — as a means of promoting and monitoring compliance with the conditions of these disposals.

Drug supply and possession

Book synopsis: The Handbook on Crime is a comprehensive edited volume that contains analysis and explanation of the nature, extent, patterns and causes of over 40 different forms of crime, in each case drawing attention to key contemporary debates and social and criminal justice responses to them. It also challenges many popular and official conceptions of crime. n nThis book is one of the few criminological texts that takes as its starting point a range of specific types of criminal activity. It addresses not only conventional offences such as shoplifting, burglary, robbery, and vehicle crime, but many other forms of criminal behaviour - often an amalgamation of different legal offences - which attract contemporary media, public and policy concern. These include crimes committed not only by individuals, but by organised criminal groups, corporations and governments. There are chapters on, for example, gang violence, hate crime, elder abuse, animal abuse, cyber crime, identity theft, money-laundering, eco crimes, drug trafficking, human trafficking, genocide, and global terrorism. Many of these topics receive surprisingly little attention in the criminological literature. n nThe Handbook on Crime will be a unique text of lasting value to students, researchers, academics, practitioners, policy makers, journalists and all others involved in understanding and preventing criminal behaviour.