Legality and legitimacy. On attitudes to drugs and social sanctions

In the democratic vision there should be opportunities for citizens to exercise power over government decisions. Legal and constitutional arrangements ought to be supported by public opinion. Therefore statutes should ideally mirror the dominant attitude of the population. In the drugs field, there...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Odegard, Einar (Author)
Format: Print Article
Language:English
Published: 1995
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 1995, Volume: 35, Issue: 4, Pages: 525-542
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Keywords:
Drogenpolitik
Drogenstrafrecht
Öffentliche Meinung
Strafbedürfnis
Strafzumessung
Europäischer Vergleich
Drogen
Einstellungen
Bevölkerung
Norwegen
Description
Summary:In the democratic vision there should be opportunities for citizens to exercise power over government decisions. Legal and constitutional arrangements ought to be supported by public opinion. Therefore statutes should ideally mirror the dominant attitude of the population. In the drugs field, there has been a sharpening of sentences given in Norway and in a number of countries that cannot be matched in any other area in which society applies penal sanctions. This article raises the question of whether this trend in the level of punishment has developed in harmony with popular opinion, something which both supporters and opponents of penalties of greater severity seem to take for granted
ISSN:0007-0955