Kristen’s Law is a prominent example of the relatively new tradition of naming new pieces of legislation after crime victims. In 2014, Kristen Coutu, a drug addict with multiple mental disorders, purchased a large dose of fentanyl from Aaron Andrade, a drug trafficker operating in Rhode Island (Rhode Island Government, 2018). Coutu believed that the substance was heroin, and her subsequent drug use activities resulted in overdosing and death (Rhode Island Government, 2018). The case gave rise to a state-level act to make punishments for illicit drug trafficking stricter, thus reducing drug-related deaths.
The abovementioned Law has been proposed to hold drug dealers in Rhode Island more accountable for their commercial transactions’ consequences. Signed into Law four years ago, the legislation aims to deter drug trafficking by enabling prosecutors to hold drug dealers liable for murder if their activities result in fatal overdose cases (Rhode Island Government, 2018). The victim’s death made Suzanne Coutu, the victim’s mother, seek the most severe punishment for the drug dealer, which resulted in Kristen’s Law. Thus, the story surrounding it illustrates the concepts of “primary victims” and “secondary victims” that Karmen (2020) explains to introduce the victimology field (p. 5). Another idea aligned with the selected example is that “sorting out the victims from villains” can be challenging for the public or investigators (Karmen, 2020, p. 12). In the case above, Coutu’s status as a victim of murder became a debatable issue since injecting the substance was the woman’s decision (Rhode Island Government, 2018). Despite raising the question of whether drug users are pure victims, the Law can make drug selling even riskier for dealers.
Therefore, Kristen’s Law aims to draw parallels between the illicit drug trade and murder. This piece of legislation is particularly interesting from the viewpoint of victimology since it challenges society’s perspective on drug users’ guilt for the consequences of their addictions. At the same time, it clarifies that the distributors of potentially deadly substances should not be seen as passive offenders that simply support their clients’ choices without any pressure.
References
Karmen, A. (2020). Crime victims: An introduction to victimology (10th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Rhode Island Government. (2018). Governor signs Kristen’s Law to prosecute high profile drug dealers. Web.