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  Community responses  What is RJ?  The advantages of RJ  The risks of RJ  RJ, drugs and alcohol  Points of intervention

Community responses  Community as resource  Community as window dressing  Conflicts as property  Community values

What is RJ?  A new criminal justice paradigm?  Distinguish offender from offence  Approach offences in a dynamic way  Reintegrative and disintegrative shaming  Communitarian  Consider interests of victim and offender  Importance of voluntarism  Practicalities

Advantages of RJ  Positive evaluations  Low recidivism rates  Meaningful participation  Higher victim satisfaction  Flexibility  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  Criminal justice settings…  Schools  Youth service  Drugs agencies  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): 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