Vietnamese Australians and the Heroin Trade
Research published this week by Deakin Criminologist Dr Richard Evans applies the theory ofresource curse to disadvantaged migrant communities and criminal offending, using Vietnamese Australians and the Heroin Trade as a case study. The research has been published in the latest issue of the Citizenship and Globalisation Research Paper Series.
Article abstract: Australia has a substantial Vietnamese community, a consequence of the refugee exodus from Southeast Asia which followed the Communist victory in Vietnam in 1975. While Vietnamese Australians have contributed greatly to their host society, they are also stigmatised because of an association with the trade in illicit drugs, particularly heroin. Drug-related offending remains very high in Vietnamese Australian communities, with resultant high rates of incarceration and social exclusion. In its formative years the Vietnamese Australian community was faced with exclusion from economic and social opportunity, but was uniquely well-positioned as an ethnic enclave economy to take advantage of the growing demand for illicit drugs, especially heroin. I argue that the heroin trade had an effect analogous to ‘resource curse’, and has been a major source of continuing disadvantage and social harm to the Vietnamese Australian community.
Access the full article here.