The development and implementation of drug policy in England 1994-2004.

This thesis is a study of drug policy in England between 1994 and 2004. It focuses on five areas: - how drug policy was developed, why partnership forms were chosen as the mechanisms by which to achieve implementation and the impact of that décision, the relationship between the centre and localities, partnerships as new forms of governance and whether institutional resilience has been observed. The research used a multi-method approach comprised of three components: a literature review; an analysis of documentary sources, including the three key drug policies, and original, empirical research. The latter was undertaken with two separate groups, the first responsible for drug policy development and the second for policy implementation. Tackling Drugs Together (TDT,1995) was developed by a small group of people who successfully exploited the opportunities open to them and who were observed to have used all of the 'factors' identified by Levin (1997) in their capacities, as civil servants, politicians and members of the voluntary and campaigning sectors. They were 'motivated' to achieve change (from their institutional, personal or organisational position) and used the 'opportunities' and 'resources' open to them to do that. They did not however form a 'policy network' (Berridge 2006; Duke 2002; Sabatier 1998; Wong 1998; Hughes 1997). Those developing TDT (1995) chose partnership forms (Drug Action Teams - DATS) as a mechanism for implementation, because they provided an answer in a complex social policy area, allowing a wide variety of organisations to be brought together. In addition, the concept was associated with newness and dynamism. The direction of drug policy, post 1998, is linked to New Labour's wider social policy perspective - incorporating a focus on communlty and social responsibility. On the whole, DATs have supportéd this direction. Their relationship to the centre has in general been positive, whilst responding to a strong performance management framework. DATs have accepted this for the benefits it brings; and highly functional DATs have learned to adapt policies to their own local needs. Their sophistication, functionality and structure indícate that they have become new forms of governance (Newman 2001). This does not mean however that the old institutions have disappeared; they have shown resilience (Klein 1993) and adapted to the changes, working within a partnership, performance management and regional framework. The thesis makes a contribution by focussing on drug policy development and implementation. Through the examination of the impact of the partnership and performance management approaches over a décade, it illuminâtes other social policy areas and New Labour changes, especially within the area of governance, developing our understanding of institutional change and resilience

Being a girl who gets into trouble: narratives of girlhood

In this article I focus on the narratives of girls who describe the events that shape their lives and get them into trouble. The narratives are explored against Darrell Steffensmeier and Emilie Allan’s (1996) proffered Gender Theory, to consider whether it offers an adequate explanatory framework. The article adds to the body of knowledge about girlhood, gender norms, and transgression and provides fresh insight into the relevance of physical strength to girls’ violence. I conclude that girls are defining girlhood as they live it and it is the disjuncture with normative concepts that leads them into conflict with institutions of social control

Law and order conservatism and youth justice: Outcomes and effects in Canada and England and Wales

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://mmuperu.co.uk/bjcj/This paper explores how underlying law and order conservatism has shaped and defined youth justice policy in England and Wales and Canada. We argue that cultural and political influences affected implementation in ways which were initially unforeseen and therefore unconsidered. Our focus is twofold, on the intentions that drove the policy and practice changes and subsequently, on the negative consequences that emerged during implementation. We explore these with regard to the application of discretion and the paper considers the complexity of discretion and how neither, reducing or increasing it has led to simple or obviously predictable patterns. In addition, we apply Thompson's (2006) model of Anti- Oppressive Practice to consider how policies that were not intended to be oppressive and which were evidence based and informed by research and the policy community moved towards a law and order agenda.Published versio

‘Because it’s fun’: English and American girls’ counter-hegemonic stories of alcohol and marijuana use

Girls’ alcohol and other drug (AOD) use are depicted culturally as problematic. In this comparative, qualitative, study the voices of 59 English and American justice-involved girls give a counter-hegemonic portrayal of their alcohol and marijuana use. In their stories we see how their AOD use is pleasurable and boundaried. AOD use involves negotiated risk within the situated context of shared experience and friendship networks that heighten and promote pleasure and fun. The findings offer the opportunity to address the ‘credibility gap’ (Measham 2006) in international health promotion policy. Our aim is to promote the adoption of policy approaches that recognize the complexity of girls’ lives and draw on strategies they have devised

Telling stories about European Union Health Law: The emergence of a new field of law

The ideational narrative power of law has now solidified, and continues to solidify, ‘European Union health law’, into an entity with a distinctive legal identity. EU health law was previously seen as either non-existent, or so broad as to be meaningless, or as existing only in relations between EU law and health (the ‘and’ approach), or as consisting of a body of barely or loosely connected policy domains (the ‘patchwork’ approach). The process of bringing EU health law into being is a process of narration. The ways in which EU health law is narrated (and continues to be narrated) involve three main groups of actors: the legislature, courts and the academy