Three faces of police referral: Welfare, Justice and business perspectives on multi‐agency work with drug arrestees

Abstract

There are a series of loosely connected debates in Britain about forms of punishment, diversion and case disposal that might be financially economical, fair in terms of justice, and in the welfare interest of persons caught up in the criminal justice system. This paper describes and analyses schemes in which arresting police officers and/or custody officers offer to arrested persons an opportunity for referral to specialist drugs advice and/or wider forms of services (debt advice, housing advice, health services, etc). Such schemes have variously been piloted, abandoned, forgotten and proposed afresh, in many areas of Britain from the mid‐1980s onwards. The application of three perspectives upon police referral ‐ welfare, justice and business ‐ illuminates some quite problematic aspects of police referral and, it is suggested, pinpoints some possible ways forward for police and other practitioners. A summary checklist of suggested police referral ‘dos and donts’ is offered for those contemplating or manag...