The War on Drugs: Has it been worth the price.
Introduction
The war on drugs in America has been fought since the 1880s when the Chinese Exclusion Act was first passed by congress. Several pieces of legislation have followed this initial volley in the war up to present day. Statistics from 2011 showed there where 1.6 million state and federal prisoners (Guerino, Harrison, & Sabol, 2011) according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The United States has nearly a half million more prisoners than China with about a fifth of the population. Out of that, 18%, or roughly 252,000, in state prisons and 51%, or roughly 106,000, in federal prisons were serving time for drug related crimes and nearly 70% where non-Caucasian. The cost for this …show more content…
Although this affected the trends of supply and demand it could never quite kill the monster that we were attempting to. As we sought to clamp down on one drug, another would pop up to replace it. We started in the 1880’s with Opium after the Civil War, its spread was blamed on the Chinese because of “Opium Dens” that where often found in the Chinese concentrations of town and cities. The Chinese Exclusion act was a method of trying to combat the Opium importation and close down the dens. This act was not repealed until …show more content…
The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported 215,470 federal prisoners of which 49.7% where for Drugs related crimes (BOP, 2014). In December 2009 it was estimated that there where 242,900 prisoners under state jurisdiction for drug related crimes (Guerino, Harrison, & Sabol, Table 16B, 2011) or roughly 18%, with 68% of that population being Non-Caucasian. These numbers represent strictly those offenses labeled as drug crimes, not crimes that where committed while under the influence of a drug. Their data also points out that 58% of all prisoners from all crime categories are Non-Caucasian. The data points to a disparity in the criminal justice system, at least in relationship to drug crimes. Some of this disparity is due to the Habitual Offender (Three Strikes) laws that 24 states have enacted in some form and the focus of law enforcement on urban and lower income areas. Furthering this is the disparity on types of drugs, “Crack cocaine sentencing presents a particularly egregious case. Since the 1980s, federal penalties for crack were 100 times harsher than those for powder cocaine, with African Americans disproportionately sentenced to much lengthier terms “ (Drug Policy Alliance, 2014). The mandatory sentencing for these cases was such that for every gram of crack cocaine, you would have to be caught with 100 grams of powder
Introduction
The war on drugs in America has been fought since the 1880s when the Chinese Exclusion Act was first passed by congress. Several pieces of legislation have followed this initial volley in the war up to present day. Statistics from 2011 showed there where 1.6 million state and federal prisoners (Guerino, Harrison, & Sabol, 2011) according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The United States has nearly a half million more prisoners than China with about a fifth of the population. Out of that, 18%, or roughly 252,000, in state prisons and 51%, or roughly 106,000, in federal prisons were serving time for drug related crimes and nearly 70% where non-Caucasian. The cost for this …show more content…
Although this affected the trends of supply and demand it could never quite kill the monster that we were attempting to. As we sought to clamp down on one drug, another would pop up to replace it. We started in the 1880’s with Opium after the Civil War, its spread was blamed on the Chinese because of “Opium Dens” that where often found in the Chinese concentrations of town and cities. The Chinese Exclusion act was a method of trying to combat the Opium importation and close down the dens. This act was not repealed until …show more content…
The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported 215,470 federal prisoners of which 49.7% where for Drugs related crimes (BOP, 2014). In December 2009 it was estimated that there where 242,900 prisoners under state jurisdiction for drug related crimes (Guerino, Harrison, & Sabol, Table 16B, 2011) or roughly 18%, with 68% of that population being Non-Caucasian. These numbers represent strictly those offenses labeled as drug crimes, not crimes that where committed while under the influence of a drug. Their data also points out that 58% of all prisoners from all crime categories are Non-Caucasian. The data points to a disparity in the criminal justice system, at least in relationship to drug crimes. Some of this disparity is due to the Habitual Offender (Three Strikes) laws that 24 states have enacted in some form and the focus of law enforcement on urban and lower income areas. Furthering this is the disparity on types of drugs, “Crack cocaine sentencing presents a particularly egregious case. Since the 1980s, federal penalties for crack were 100 times harsher than those for powder cocaine, with African Americans disproportionately sentenced to much lengthier terms “ (Drug Policy Alliance, 2014). The mandatory sentencing for these cases was such that for every gram of crack cocaine, you would have to be caught with 100 grams of powder