Simultaneously treatable and punishable: Implications of the production of addicted subjects in a drug treatment court

Abstract

Drug treatment courts (DTCs) in Canada are often framed as a progressive approach to managing people with addictions who come into contact with the law. In the specialized courts, participants are considered to have a health issue (addiction) that is best managed through a judicial system. Thus, participants in DTCs are considered to be a different type of subject than those in the traditional judicial system. Using data from a 25-month critical ethnography in the Ottawa DTC, this article explores how participants in DTCs are constructed as addicted subjects. Key characteristics of the addicted subject in the Ottawa DTC are presented: (1) an individualistic universal subject who is genderless and dislocated from context; and (2) a treatable subject who requires therapeutic interventions and who displays gratitude and a positive attitude. Implications of these characteristics are explored including (1) how a universal subject affects the type of treatment services offered, particularly gender-specific treatment; (2) how DTCs set up a system whereby individuals who are criminalized gain priority access drug treatment and other services; and (3) how participants receive criminal punishments for non-criminal behavior. It is argued that there is a simultaneous construction of the addicted subject as both treatable and punishable, which has serious consequences on participants in DTCs.

• Drug treatment courts
• subjects
• punishment
• treatment
• addiction
• gender

Notes

Notes

1. The conceptualization of addiction as a disease is historically and culturally situated. For literature outlining the history of the disease model of addiction refer to the works by Berridge and Edwards (1981), Foddy (2010) and Valverde (1998).

2. Pseudonyms are used throughout the paper.