Coercion and justice: a critical analysis of compulsory intervention towards adult substance abusers in Scandinavian social law

Compulsory interventions towards adult substance abusers have a long tradition in the Scandinavian countries. Attitudes towards such controversial measures have changed during the last decades, and currently all three countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) emphasise individual autonomy and integrity as the basic principle in social law. In this article justifications of compulsory interventions are analysed on the basis of three general principles of justice: the liberal Principle of Autonomy, the Principle of Care and the utilitarian Harm Principle. A critical approach towards the weighting of these principles is applied in the discussion of the legal foundation of compulsory measures in the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish social laws.