Master in Comparative Politics - Double Degree (original) (raw)

Meehan, C ‘Legal Highs, Moral Panics And Vigilantism: Lessons From Northern Ireland For New Zealand’ to be presented at European Society of Criminology Annual Conference, September 2014, Prague Czech Republic

This paper is concerned with the long-term impact of media reporting, moral panics and fear of crime on the punishment of drug users in Northern Ireland and the implications for other jurisdictions. Drug use amongst young people, has been widely reported in the media, resulting in two significant moral panics (1994 ecstasy, 2011 mephedrone). Residual mistrust of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland has catalysed the emergence of paramilitary policing/ vigilantism as a means of dealing with people’s drug use. Failure by state institutions to extinguish paramilitary violence outright has facilitated the reinvention of vigilante organisations as ‘saviours of the community.’ Consequently, their role as a quasi-police force is valorised. Recently there has been similar media reporting and vigilante violence towards retailers selling legal highs in New Zealand. Discussing findings from focus groups and interviews carried out in Northern Ireland and New Zealand, this paper will provide insights from Northern Ireland including the implications of such actions for the drug using community. Keywords: media, moral panics, drugs, fear of crime