CONFERENCE: Drugs, Crime and Criminal Justice
The Conference Consortium is a unique and exciting venture. A not for profit company formed by a group of service providers, trades unions, professional bodies and national organisations to promote discussion and dissemination of good practice in the fields of drugs, alcohol and criminal justice.
Levels of drug and alcohol use have increased and there is evidence that the age of first use is lower.This has consequences for individuals and their communities.These include health and social consequences, as well as increased levels of criminal and other anti-social behaviour.This situation has placed drug and alcohol use firmly on the political agenda.
The national drug strategy, with its unprecedented increase in resources for treatment, the creation of the National Treatment Agency on Substance Misuse, the Home Office Drugs Intervention Programme (DIP) and the new national alcohol strategy are concrete examples of attempts to address the issues and problems associated with drug and alcohol use.Together this has lead to a massive increase in the range of
interventions and treatment available over the past decade.
A significant investment has been made in initiatives delivered through the criminal justice system, including prisons. In many respects this has produced positive results – not least in facilitating the development of multi-disciplinary working and skill-sharing. However there is concern that this has also lead to agenda being driven by crime reduction, without enough emphasis on health and social consequences and improvements.
What will the conference address?
Whilst acknowledging the progress made in some areas, this conference seeks to:
• examine and challenge the principles underlying the approach to tackling issues and problems associated with alcohol and drug use in the UK;
• discuss the relationship between harm reduction and abstinence-based approaches – are they mutually exclusive?
• provide a platform for the presentation of examples of current practice;
• provide the opportunity to present and discuss innovative ideas;
• examine what we do well and what prevents us doing better;
• develop ways in which addressing the balance between health, social and criminogenic concerns might best be achieved.
Structure of the conference
The programme has been designed by a representative group of professionals, all specialists in their respective fields. It is structured to include debates, plenary sessions and workshops and is designed to encourage participation by everyone attending.
The topics will include:
• Is there a balance, or what are the options?
• What (else) works, what does the evidence tell us and what constitutes value for money?
• Treating drug and alcohol use in a changing culture – does one size fit all?
• What about complex needs/dual diagnosis?
• Multi-disciplinary/multi-agency working – who’s the social worker?
• How do we develop a skilled workforce – do we need specialists?
• Seamless provision – Models of Care and DIP
• Early intervention – can we move beyond arrest referral?
• Treatment in prison and links with the community
• What do we mean by inclusion – how can we deliver?
• The potential impact of changes in the criminal justice system – NOMS (National Offender management Services) and implementation of new sentencing (CJA 2003)
A full programme will be available in advance to all delegates. Regular updates on progress will be available on the Consortium web-site www.conferenceconsortium.org. In addition to the formal agenda there will be social events and other opportunities for informal discussion and networking throughout the conference.
Who should attend?
The Consortium seeks to ensure the widest possible representation from all professions, disciplines and agencies.
The conference is for all those who have an interest in drugs, alcohol and criminal justice: practitioners, policy makers, academics and service user representatives. It will be of particular interest to drug and alcohol service providers, police and probation officers, social and health services, DIP teams, CARAT teams, prison
governors and officers, DAAT’s and CDRP’s.
Logistics and conference fees
The conference will be held in the Arts Centre, the University of Warwick, commencing at 14.00 on Monday 13th March and ending at lunchtime on Wednesday 15th March 2006.
The residential delegate fee will include 2 nights’ accommodation (Monday and Tuesday) with breakfast on Tuesday and Wednesday and lunch on Tuesday.Also included is dinner on Monday evening and the conference dinner on Tuesday evening, as well as all conference materials.
There is a reduced fee for those presenting in main sessions, or chairing workshops.The Consortium is also seeking to secure funds to provide bursaries more service users and unwaged to attend the conference. For information please contact us.
A limited number of non-residential places are available for those attending from the local area.The fee includes attendance at the conference, including all conference materials, as well as attendance at the conference dinner.
Sponsorship and exhibition space
There are a number of sponsorship packages available for the conference and exhibition space is also available at the venue. For further information and prices, please contact Salma Master, the Conference Organiser – [log in to unmask]
Details on-line at:
http://www.conferenceconsortium.org.uk
Rowdy Yates
Senior Research Fellow
Scottish Addiction Studies
Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology Section
Department of Applied Social Science
University of Stirling
W: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/scot-ad/
T: +44(0)1786 - 467737
M: 07960 - 403392
--
The University of Stirling is a university established in Scotland by charter at Stirling, FK9 4LA. Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this message. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not disclose, copy or deliver this message to anyone and any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. In such case, you should destroy this message and kindly notify the sender by reply email. Please advise immediately if you or your employer do not consent to Internet email for messages of this kind.