The addict as victim: Producing the ‘problem’ of addiction in Australian victims of crime compensation laws

Abstract

Although the focus is on Australian law, the arguments we develop in this paper are likely to resonate beyond the specific jurisdiction reviewed here, and raise questions about the mutually interdependent role of law and policy in compounding the stigmatisation and marginalisation of people who use drugs and drug 'addicts'.

Producing the ‘problem of drugs’: A cross national-comparison of ‘recovery’ discourse in two Australian and British reports

“…As Goodwin (2012, p.27) observes, " [t]he suggestion that 'social problems' are brought into being, rather than simply existing, waiting to be solved, corrected or addressed by government can be unsettling for those who spend a good deal of their time attempting to have situations regarded as oppressive, intolerable, or simply untenable 'addressed'." Nonetheless, as previous research has argued, interrogation of the construction of concepts such as 'drug use' and 'addiction' (and their 'causes' and 'effects') is essential if the stigmatising and marginalising effects of laws and policies are to be disrupted (Seear & Fraser, 2014). Such scrutiny is important not only in relation to well-established policies and practices (as have been examined in previous drug policy research : Fraser & Moore, 2011b;Seear & Fraser, 2014), but also as a way of critically reflecting on contemporary and emerging ideas about the governance of drug problems.…”

“…Nonetheless, as previous research has argued, interrogation of the construction of concepts such as 'drug use' and 'addiction' (and their 'causes' and 'effects') is essential if the stigmatising and marginalising effects of laws and policies are to be disrupted (Seear & Fraser, 2014). Such scrutiny is important not only in relation to well-established policies and practices (as have been examined in previous drug policy research : Fraser & Moore, 2011b;Seear & Fraser, 2014), but also as a way of critically reflecting on contemporary and emerging ideas about the governance of drug problems. 'Recovery' is one such idea.…”

Visual and narrative representations of mental health and addiction by law enforcement

“…xii, x). In her 2009 text, Bacchi investigates health and drug policies and recently a number of critical researchers have drawn to varying degrees from her in their analyses of representations of diverse drug and health issues and policies (see Boyd, 2013, 2014; Fraser & Moore, 2011b; Lancaster, 2014; Lancaster & Ritter, 2014, Moore & Fraser, 2013; Seear & Fraser, 2014). …”

Making the abject: problem-solving courts, addiction, mental illness and impairment

“…5. We acknowledge that these associations are themselves contested and complex, and offer no opinion, here, on the validity of them (for more, see Seear and Fraser 2014). 6.…”

“…(adapted from Bacchi 2009, xii) In recent years, this strategy for examining policy 'problems' has been adapted to analyses of the law (Lancaster, Seear, and Treloar 2015;Seear and Fraser 2014). Seear and Fraser (2014) argue that Bacchi's strategy is well suited to the study of law and legal processes, because -like policy -it is possible to: see the law as reflecting, and in turn re-enacting, the (always changing) values of a given society. If we read legal discourse as does Bacchi on policy, we can expose its role in formulating social problems rather than simply addressing them.…”