This paper compares the case-gathering practices of a legal agency (a municipal police department) and a medical agency (an alcohol detoxification facility) in the context of public drunkenness control. The characteristics of case encounters and the factors affecting field processing in each setting are described. Observed differences in processing patterns are attributed to basic differences in the organizational elements of legal and medical control. The findings are discussed in terms of a sociological theory of law and medicine.
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Paul A. Pastor (1978) studied this question.
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