Perceptions of Balanced Justice and Rehabilitation for Drug Offenders

Drug courts were designed as a way to provide both rehabilitation and sanction-based approaches to drug offenders. Yet studies have not directly tested a “balanced” approach to justice for drug offenders. Drawing on the work of Mears, Pickett, and Mancini, this study adapts the philosophical tenets...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Sloas, Lincoln B. (Author) ; Atkin-Plunk, Cassandra A. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
In: Criminal justice policy review
Year: 2019, Volume: 30, Issue: 7, Pages: 990-1009
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Drug courts
Sanctioning
Balanced justice
Rehabilitation
Public opinion
Description
Summary:Drug courts were designed as a way to provide both rehabilitation and sanction-based approaches to drug offenders. Yet studies have not directly tested a “balanced” approach to justice for drug offenders. Drawing on the work of Mears, Pickett, and Mancini, this study adapts the philosophical tenets of juvenile courts into a drug court setting. This study uses multinomial logistic regression from a sample of 575 undergraduate criminology and criminal justice students from a large southern university to assess support for sanctioning approaches for nonviolent and violent drug offenders. Findings suggest that participants support a balanced justice approach to sanctioning violent drug offenders, whereas supporting a rehabilitation approach to sanctioning nonviolent drug offenders. The findings from this study highlight the importance of the public’s differing views on sanctioning drug-involved offenders.
ISSN:1552-3586
DOI:10.1177/0887403418762532