Journal article
The American Drug War, Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Protection: A Commentary
Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Vol.7, pp.237-265
05/01/2003
Abstract
Federal, state, and local governments have been fighting a protracted war on drugs, the most prominent component of which has been the enactment and enforcement of criminal anti-drug laws. 1 A major criticism of this war is that it has been ineffective and costly because there continues to be a substantial supply of and demand for drugs despite the concerted drug control efforts of law enforcement authorities. 2 This war also has been criticized because it has had a disproportionate impact on members of disadvantaged groups who are users of illegal drugs. 3 The war on drugs has affected one especially vulnerable disadvantaged group. This group is comprised of children who suffer harm because of maternal use of illegal drugs, which includes the use of drugs by parenting and pregnant women, both adults and adolescents. 4 The subject of maternal illegal drug use, child protection, and the drug war raises extremely complicated empirical, public policy, and legal issues. Since an in depth examination of this subject is not feasible in this short commentary, my goal is simply to provide an introduction to this subject. Part One describes the protection of children from maltreatment through the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Part Two presents a brief summary of what is known about the effects of drug use by mothers on the parenting of children. Part Three presents a brief summary of what is known about the effects of prenatal exposure to drugs, stemming from drug use ...
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The American Drug War, Maternal Substance Abuse and Child Protection: A Commentary
- Creators
- Josephine Gittler - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Vol.7, pp.237-265
- Publisher
- The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice
- ISSN
- 1550-7815
- Number of pages
- 29
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/01/2003
- Academic Unit
- Law Faculty; Health Management and Policy; Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Nursing
- Record Identifier
- 9983557626102771
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