ABSTRACT
In this chapter we address the relationship between women, drug use and community interventions. The chapter begins by examining the relationship between women’s offending and drugs and by considering how policy responses to drug-related crime have impacted disproportionately upon women, in particular those from minority ethnic groups. Although the introduction of programmes in prisons was viewed as a potential way of tackling drug problems among offenders, including women, this has not proved to be particularly successful since associated social and personal difficulties typically remain unresolved. It is argued that traditional community-based responses to women’s offending have also failed to take account of the needs of women or addiction, with the result that statutory orders are more likely to be breached and are often associated with high rates of reoffending. Innovative criminal justice approaches to dealing with drug-related crime – such as arrest referral, Drug Treatment and Testing Orders and Drug Courts – attempt to explicitly address the relationship between drug use and crime but have often failed adequately to resolve difficulties women encounter in their contact with the criminal justice system. The chapter concludes by arguing that contemporary evidence suggests that the justice system can respond more effectively to women with addiction issues by using community-based resources that provide support and an opportunity to address underlying issues. This focus, which places drug-related offending within the context of other issues in a woman’s life, and
attempts to address these issues rather than merely punish, is likely to produce more successful outcomes.
