ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In Colombia, a person caught in possession of an illicit substance is not judicially sanctioned as long as the quantity does not exceed the maximum allowable amounts. Given that the public is divided on the appropriateness of this policy, an examination of the various public positions was undertaken. METHOD: A convenience sample of 302 adults were presented with 48 vignettes depicting a situation of everyday life easily recognizable by all in Colombia; that of a male person who is apprehended in the street by the police because he is suspected of illicit trafficking. These vignettes were created by orthogonal variation of four factors: Type of substance, amount of substance, type of charge against the offender, and offender's age. RESULTS: Through cluster analysis, six qualitatively different positions were found. These positions corresponded to three distinct, classical philosophies (a) a libertarian, free-market philosophy - punishment should never be extremely severe because the trade in psychotropic substances is a trade like any other (6%), (b) a moralistic, conservative philosophy - punishment should always be extremely severe except perhaps in certain cases (52%), and (c) a progressive, human rights-inspired philosophy - punishment should always be proportional to the seriousness of the facts (42%). CONCLUSION: Half of Colombian people supported a control policy according to which the use of psychotropic substances is considered profoundly immoral. Most of the other segment of the population express views similar to those of international organizations. It is therefore desirable that legislators rely on progressive international legislation to support domestic policies that are not strictly moralistic and conservative.
Subject(s)
Illicit Drugs , Substance-Related Disorders , Adult , Colombia , Humans , Law Enforcement , Male , Police , Psychotropic DrugsABSTRACT
Dentro de la perspectiva del análisis del comportamiento hay una joven pero fructífera tradición de estudio e intervención sobre prácticas culturales, que ha dado origen, entre otros, al concepto de metacontingencia, entendida en general como una relación funcional entre el comportamiento entrelazado de los individuos y un producto agregado determinado, operando en el tercer nivel (cultural) de selección. Al igual que la contingencia, que funciona en el segundo nivel de selección, es importante la especificación de sus términos para aumentar la posibilidad de influencia sobre la conducta. En este trabajo se pretendió hacer un análisis de la Ley de Justicia y Paz en Colombia en la búsqueda de estas especificaciones, las cuales revelaron que la escritura de la ley no se ajusta adecuadamente a los principios de especificación de contingencia. Se ofrecen sugerencias para seguir trabajando en esta dirección.
Within the perspective of behaviour Analysis, there is a young, but fruitful, tradition of study and intervention on Cultural Practices. This tradition has startted, amongst others, the concept of Metacontingency which is a functional relationship between the interlocked individual behavioural contingencies and a certain aggregate product, which at the same time, operates on the third (cultural) level of selection. As in contingency that works on the second level of selection, it is important to be specific with contingency terms in order to increase the influence on behaviour. On this research "Justice and Peace Law in Colombia" was analysed to search specifications mentioned previously; this analysis shows that the way the law is written is not properly in accordance with the principles of contingency specification. Suggestions are offered to continue working in this direction.
