The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants
This paper examines the ways personal use of illicit substances and alcohol are constructed as either mitigating or aggravating factors to explain offending. We consider the differential constructions of these factors for people who appear in supreme and district courts in northern Queensland, Austr...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/21533687221078967 2024-04-07T07:52:27+00:00 The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants Velazquez, Marisela Petray, Theresa L. Miles, Debra 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/21533687221078967 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21533687221078967 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/21533687221078967 en eng SAGE Publications https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Race and Justice volume 14, issue 2, page 124-145 ISSN 2153-3687 2153-3687 Law Sociology and Political Science Anthropology journal-article 2022 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221078967 2024-03-08T03:17:52Z This paper examines the ways personal use of illicit substances and alcohol are constructed as either mitigating or aggravating factors to explain offending. We consider the differential constructions of these factors for people who appear in supreme and district courts in northern Queensland, Australia, for offences involving illicit substance use, alcohol use, drug-related offences, and violence. Qualitative analysis of courtroom observations is understood through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Our findings reveal that personal use of illicit substances was primarily constructed by legal practitioners as an indicator of disadvantaged circumstances when discussing non-Indigenous defendants. In these cases, drug use was connected to other disadvantages such as poor mental health, physical pain, and trauma. In contrast, alcohol use was primarily raised as an aggravating factor for First Nations defendants, constructed by legal practitioners as a personal flaw linked to violent offending, and overshadowed the interrelated disadvantages that many First Nations defendants experience. This reflects social attitudes about First Nations people, reinforces individualistic explanations for offending patterns, and points to the institutional racism embedded in the structural processes of Queensland's higher courts that continues to profoundly impact First Nations people. Article in Journal/Newspaper First Nations SAGE Publications Queensland Race and Justice 215336872210789 |
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SAGE Publications |
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English |
topic |
Law Sociology and Political Science Anthropology |
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Law Sociology and Political Science Anthropology Velazquez, Marisela Petray, Theresa L. Miles, Debra The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants |
topic_facet |
Law Sociology and Political Science Anthropology |
description |
This paper examines the ways personal use of illicit substances and alcohol are constructed as either mitigating or aggravating factors to explain offending. We consider the differential constructions of these factors for people who appear in supreme and district courts in northern Queensland, Australia, for offences involving illicit substance use, alcohol use, drug-related offences, and violence. Qualitative analysis of courtroom observations is understood through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Our findings reveal that personal use of illicit substances was primarily constructed by legal practitioners as an indicator of disadvantaged circumstances when discussing non-Indigenous defendants. In these cases, drug use was connected to other disadvantages such as poor mental health, physical pain, and trauma. In contrast, alcohol use was primarily raised as an aggravating factor for First Nations defendants, constructed by legal practitioners as a personal flaw linked to violent offending, and overshadowed the interrelated disadvantages that many First Nations defendants experience. This reflects social attitudes about First Nations people, reinforces individualistic explanations for offending patterns, and points to the institutional racism embedded in the structural processes of Queensland's higher courts that continues to profoundly impact First Nations people. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Velazquez, Marisela Petray, Theresa L. Miles, Debra |
author_facet |
Velazquez, Marisela Petray, Theresa L. Miles, Debra |
author_sort |
Velazquez, Marisela |
title |
The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants |
title_short |
The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants |
title_full |
The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants |
title_fullStr |
The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Impacts of Drug and Alcohol use on Sentencing for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Defendants |
title_sort |
impacts of drug and alcohol use on sentencing for first nations and non-indigenous defendants |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/21533687221078967 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/21533687221078967 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/21533687221078967 |
geographic |
Queensland |
geographic_facet |
Queensland |
genre |
First Nations |
genre_facet |
First Nations |
op_source |
Race and Justice volume 14, issue 2, page 124-145 ISSN 2153-3687 2153-3687 |
op_rights |
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221078967 |
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Race and Justice |
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215336872210789 |
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