A Critical Analysis of the Capacity of the Retributive Justice system to mitigate the Issues of Recidivism among Drug Offenders in Sri Lanka

In the past, many societies have chosen drugs whose use was incorporated strictly in social rituals; the abuse of those drugs became a severe public health problem in this modern society. It is not restricted to a particular society or region but affects all nations and communities. Many of these discovered drugs have severe dependence liability and brought the problem of addiction into a new dimension. All the countries aspire to curb narcotic drug use, and they utilize retributive justice mechanisms to achieve their target. This study has focused on the research problem as the incidence of recidivism amongst convicted drug-related offences. It has been subjected to the domestic retributive mechanism that has been used increasingly in Sri Lanka, and those who were a lower class of society have become recidivists under the existing retributive justice. The study has focused on the efficacy of domestic retributive justice in dealing with recidivism amongst drug offenders in Sri Lanka. The present study selected 100 drug offenders and ten prison officers through a convenient sample from Mahara prison in Sri Lanka. For data collection, unstructured interviews were used concerning both drug offenders and prison officers. The study’s finding reveals that most drug offenders were introduced to drugs by their friends or family members. Further, it was revealed that most of the drug offenders belonged to the lower-income group, and they were living in tiny houses like slums and flats with minimum facilities. These residential places are centres of distribution of drugs and other crimes, and many people were under pressure from their colleagues to follow this criminal way of life. According to the findings of the study legal framework presently in place in Sri Lanka has not created a sufficient ratio of provisions to reduce recidivism amongst drug offenders. The study recommends utilising structured rehabilitation programs for the first-time offenders while reintegration programs before release drug offenders to society.