Book Review: Judith Rumgay The Addicted Offender: Developments in British Policy and Practice Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2000. 216 pp. (incl. index). £45.00 (hbk) ISBN 0—333—75445—X
| Author | Alana Barton |
| DOI | 10.1177/17488958020020010507 |
| Published date | 01 February 2002 |
| Date | 01 February 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
poor, exploited women. The women in Dealing are certainly not that. None of
them is beholden to a male dealer for her business nor forced into the work by
a male standing over her. Patriarchy cannot be invoked as keeping the women
involved in this criminal world. Nor can women’s liberation be ‘blamed’
simplistically (as is common among prison staff and some theorists for the rise
in women’s crime in general) for these women taking leadership and manage-
ment roles in the drug industry. Just as active, successful and forceful women
are absent from traditional histories due to the way history has been researched
and written (rather than that there were no such women), so successful women
in the drug industry may have been written out of earlier research into the drug
business.
On the whole these women are not driven by their own addictions and are
therefore not candidates for drug rehabilitation or for any of the typical
options provided by courts, prisons or drug counsellors. Although they come
from varied backgrounds and have different business modes, they have in
common that they do not want to be rehabilitated. They enjoy their work,
share the profits with their families and feel capable, assertive and strong.
The reader is left though with the uncomfortable feeling that, if we recognize
these women as the able entrepreneurs that they are there is a hair’s breath
separating them from business people in the licit economy. Denton makes no
judgements as she does not see that as her role here. But, although she states
that she does not romanticize these women’s involvement in their trade, she
walks a very fine line, sometimes teetering on the edge of doing just that. The
fact that they are breaking the law and dealing in addiction for most clients,
dissolution of lives for many and death for some are barely noted by the
women or the author. On the other hand, that’s what happens in a capitalist,
free market economy — supply meets demand, And the women we meet here
are running their businesses supplying a commodity in high demand.
Most importantly Denton’s work adds to and advances the few studies
challenging current understandings and interpretations of women in the drug
industry.
Judith Rumgay
The Addicted Offender: Developments in British Policy and Practice
Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2000. 216 pp. (incl. index). £45.00 (hbk)
ISBN 0–333–75445–X
•Reviewed by Alana Barton, University of Central Lancashire, UK
This book offers an incisive investigation into, and evaluation of, the develop-
ment and effectiveness of a range of partnership programmes set up between
the probation service in England and Wales and a range of non-statutory
agencies, in response to growing concerns about the number of substance
misusing offenders.
Book Reviews 97
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