Heroin Addiction,Criminal Culpability,and the Penal Sanction

Abstract

In 1973, Nelson Rockefeller presented to the New York State legislature a Draconian legislative package aimed at controlling the problem of drug abuse. His proposals aroused intense opposition on the part of liberal po litical figures, an opposition that demonstrates the growing incoherence of contemporary liberal social policy with regard to "deviant" activity.

In looking back at the development of liberal conceptions of deviancy and appropriate social control, the author demonstrates that deterministic social theories have strongly affected liberalism's understanding of crimi nal culpability and the rise of the therapeutic orientation. The various sociological, psychological, and physiological theories of heroin addiction, in particular, all draw upon a common view of the addict as determined by forces beyond his control, as the victim of a disease. This conception of addiction has had a significant impact upon views of criminal justice, as is shown in a review of articles published in American law reviews be tween 1960 and 1973. Special attention is given to the incompatibility of premises underlying the criminal sanction and the perception of addiction as a disease.

The author concludes that the therapeutic social response to addiction, pressed for by liberals and supported by legal theorists, has reached its limits. This accounts for the disarray which characterizes current efforts to formulate a rational social policy with regard to heroin addiction.