Welfare, Partnership and Crime Reduction: aspects of court referral schemes for drug users

This paper describes and analyses three schemes initiated in magistrates' courts in England and Wales in which information about drugs and drug services is offered to court attenders (either by specialist workers or as part of a generic welfare information service) together with the opportunity for referral to services. Difficulties with making contacts in court were related to a number of factors, including, the layout of the court waiting areas, defendants' pre-hearing nerves and the lack of context for approaches. It is concluded that the way forward may be for court-based workers to offer a generic welfare service with multi-purpose information and referral, covering issues such as housing, debt and health as well as drugs.