The Law is too Grey

Liminal Legality and Moral Injury in Encounters with Drug Law Enforcement

Bibliographic Data

ID6451718
AuthorsLiam Michaud (0000-0002-2091-442X, York University, corresponding author), Emily Van Der Meulen (0000-0003-0618-8262, Toronto Metropolitan University), Sandra Ka Hon Chu (HIV Legal Network), Janet Butler-Mcphee (HIV Legal Network)
Year2024
Volume34
Issue1
Pages110-129
Publication date2024-05-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Legal Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-6639 • E-ISSN: 1461-7390
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09646639241249074
OpenAlexW4396740436
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited51

Overdose mortality and the legitimacy crisis facing policing have propelled momentum for drug law reform. Yet, resulting reforms and associated protections are often functionally undermined by enforcement practices and the legal environment faced by people who use drugs. To explore this tension, we conducted a community-based study in Ontario, Canada. Our findings show that people's experiences of policing at overdose events reflect a legal regime characterized by their ambiguous legal status and uncertain protections. We argue that the resulting state of liminal legality is enacted in large part through police discretion and the uneven distribution of enforcement practices across spaces and populations; individuals compensate for this legal environment by mobilizing their knowledge of legal risks. Together, these expressions of law and drug enforcement generate substantial moral injury among people who use drugs

Criminology · Enforcement · Law enforcement · Liminality · Political science · Principle of legality · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · Law · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

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