Citation

Jagger EASM. Br. J. Criminol. 1996; 36(2): 237-254.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the implications for police practices of central government's policy which constitutes parents as primarily responsible for glue-sniffing'. Using data from interviews with families and the police, as well as other research on glue-sniffing, I examine how this policy affects the latter's decision-making activities and, thereby, the consequences these have for parents presenting with their glue-sniffing children. It shows that the families dealt with by the police were not necessarily the tiny minority' of chronic sniffers the government saw as needing help. It explains that this has to do with a complex interplay of factors such as the relationship between government and its regulatory apparatuses, the functioning of police discourse, organizational priorities, and institutional constraints.