The New Dutch and German Drug Laws

Social and Political Conditions for Criminalization and Decriminalization

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4890837
AutoresSebastián Scheerer (autor de correspondencia)
Año1978
Volumen12
Número4
Páginas585-606
Fecha de publicación1978-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLaw & Society Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0023-9216 • E-ISSN: 1540-5893
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3053306
PMID11614870
OpenAlexW2332714336
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas24

The "drug wave" of the late 1960s was widely perceived as a threat to the legitimacy of normative expectations in Dutch and German society. Although the overwhelming reaction of public opinion to drug users in both countries was hostile and punitive, the German legislature passed even more repressive laws whereas the Dutch legislature adapted the normative system to the use of both "soft" and "hard" drugs. Although in each instance the initiative for legal change came from the political and moral "progressives," the conservative "moral center" retained a veto power. Why it used this veto power in Germany but actively supported the reform bill in Holland is explained in terms of the macrostructure of each society

Criminalization · Criminology · Decriminalization · German · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Criminal Law and Evidence · Dutch Social and Cultural Studies · History · Law · Legal and Social Justice Studies