Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T06:31:46.301Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

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.

References

ARNOLD, Martin (1969) “Varied Drug Laws Raising U.S. Fears” New York Times (August 17).Google Scholar
BECKER, Howard S. (1963) Outsiders. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.Google Scholar
CHAMBLISS, William J. (1964) “A Sociological Analysis of the Law of Vagrancy,” 12 Social Problems 67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CLAUSEN, J. A. (1961) “Drug Addiction,” in Robert K., MERTON and Robert A., NISBET (eds.) Contemporary Social Problems. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.Google Scholar
DE FRAIN, John (1967) “Students Clash Over Narcotics,” Lincoln Journal (November 21).Google Scholar
DICEY, A. V. (1920) Lectures on the Relation Between Law and Public Opinion in England During the Nineteenth Century. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
DICKSON, Donald T. (1968) “Bureaucracy and Morality: An Organizational Perspective on a Moral Crusade,” 16 Social Problems 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DOBLER, William O. (1968) “In Perspective,” Lincoln Star (October 9).Google Scholar
DURKHEIM, Emile (1964) The Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press of Glencoe.Google Scholar
EDELMAN, Murray (1964) The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
ENGELS, Frederick (1972) The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
FRIEDMAN, Lawrence M. and Jack, LADINSKY (1967) “Social Change and the Law of Industrial Accidents,” 67 Columbia Law Review 50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GCODE, Erich (1970) The Marijuana Smckers. New York: Basic Books, Inc.Google Scholar
GCODE, Erich (1972) Drugs in American Society. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
GUSFIELD, J. R. (1963) Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
GUSFIELD, J. R. (1967) “Moral Passage: The Symbolic Process in Public Designations of Deviance,” 15 Social Problems 175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HALL, Jerome (1952) Theft, Law and Society. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
JEFFERY, C. R. (1957) “The Development of Crime in Early English Society,” 47 Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 647.Google Scholar
LASKI, Harold J. (1935) The State in Theory and Practice. New York: Viking Press.Google Scholar
LINDESMITH, Alfred R. (1965) The Addict and the Law. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR THE REFORM OF MARIJUANA LAWS (1971) “The Criminal Penalties Under the Current Marijuana Laws,” Washington: National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.Google Scholar
NEBRASKA STATE PATROL, DIVISION OF DRUG CONTROL (1970) Activity Summary, Drug and Narcotic Cases. Lincoln: Nebraska State Patrol.Google Scholar
POUND, Roscce (1922) An Introduction to the Philosophy of Law. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
POUND, Roscce (1942) Social Control Through Law. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
QUINNEY, Richard (1970) The Social Reality of Crime. Boston: Little Brown and Company.Google Scholar
ROSENTHAL, M. P. (1969) “A Plea for Amelioration of the Marijuana Laws,” 47 Texas Law Review 1359.Google Scholar
ROSS, Robert and Graham L., STAINES (1972) “The Politics of Social Problems,” 20 Social Problems 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SUTHERLAND, E. H. (1950) “The Diffusion of Sexual Psychopath Laws,” 56 American Journal of Sociology 142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TERRY, Lee (1969) KETV, Channel 7 News Observation, Omaha (February 27).Google Scholar
THOMAS, Fred (1969) “Puffers Find Pot of Gold Under Nebraska Rainbow,” Omaha World Herald (August 31).Google Scholar
VOLD, George B. (1958) Theoretical Criminology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
WALL, Millan (1968) “Farmers Oppose Declaring Marijuana a Noxious Weed,” Lincoln Star (February 15).Google Scholar
WARRINER, C. K. (1958) “The Nature and Functions of Official Morality,” 64 American Journal of Sociology 165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar