IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v4y2000i4p185-198.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Surviving through Substance Use: The Role of Substances in the Lives of Women who Appear before the Courts

Author

Listed:
  • Emma Wincup

Abstract

Drawing upon qualitative data gathered through fieldwork in three bail hostels, this paper outlines the role of substance use (illegal drugs, alcohol, prescribed medication and food) in the lives of women awaiting trial. Their use of substance is explored within the context of the multiple and complex problems which shaped their lives. It is argued that womenís use of substances can be viewed as a active strategy to achieve personal and social satisfaction, to cope with stresses and problem experienced and to exert some degree of control over their lives. Whilst seemingly beneficial for the women in the short-term, ultimately substance use for this group of women can be seen as counter-productive and self-destructive; increasing the control of others (health care, social work and criminal justice professionals) over their lives, leading to social problems and damaging their emotional and physical well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Wincup, 2000. "Surviving through Substance Use: The Role of Substances in the Lives of Women who Appear before the Courts," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 4(4), pages 185-198, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:4:y:2000:i:4:p:185-198
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.363
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.363?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:4:y:2000:i:4:p:185-198. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.