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Nebraska's Marijuana Law: A Case of Unexpected Legislative Innovation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

John F. Galliher ,
James L. McCartney  and
Barbara E. Baum
John F. Galliher
Affiliation:
University of Missouri — Columbia
James L. McCartney
Affiliation:
University of Missouri — Columbia
Barbara E. Baum
Affiliation:
University of Missouri — Columbia
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The social processes involved in the development of criminal laws have been studied by several scholars (Jeffery, 1957; Hall, 1952; Chambliss, 1964; Lindesmith, 1965; Sutherland, 1950; Becker, 1963). Generally, two major perspectives have guided these studies. One orientation has been the functionalist perspective (Pound, 1922, 1942; Durkheim, 1964) which stresses the emergence of moral consensus and the functional interdependence of the law with other institutions. Dicey (1920) suggests that public consensus is preceded by the origination of such ideas among elites, and is only later accepted by the mass of citizens. Such consensus, he claims, supplies the foundation for eventual legal change. An alternative view is the conflict . orientation (Quinney, 1970; Vold, 1958: 203-219; Engels, 1972; Laski, 1935) which views law as the instrument through which one interest group dominates another. In the development of workman's compensation laws, Friedman and Ladinsky (1967) trace the history of conflict and eventual accommodation between workers and factory owners.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , Spring 1974 , pp. 441 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © The Law and Society Association, 1974.

Footnotes

AUTHORS' NOTE: This investigation was supported by Biomedical Sciences Support Grant FR-07053 from the General Research Support Branch, Division of Research Resources, Bureau of Health Professions Education and Manpower Training, National Institutes of Health. We are grateful for the helpful criticism and guidance of Alfred R. Lindesmith, Nicholas Babchuk, Malcolm Spector and Edward Hunvald. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, New York City, 1973. Readers will note that the anonymity of sources has been preserved throughout the article.

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