Mandatory Minimums In The 1970's

Between the 1960s into the 1980s, a significant increase in the number of violent crimes occurred. During the 1960s the violent crime rate had risen by 126 percent and in the 1970s the rate had increased 64 percent. President Nixon attributed this to the usage of drugs and in 1971 addressed congress with the intent to provide the money to help eliminate drug abuse. With the monetary aid, the government created strict policies to crack down on drug abusers, policies still in effect today. The current policies addressing the sentencing of nonviolent drug users are ineffective and revisions to the policies should occur. The mandatory minimums sentences, low risk of violence, accompanied by no economic benefits provide clear reasons why
Nixon also made drug related crimes federal offenses. Convictions for mere possession resulted in felony prison sentences and more serious crimes like dealing or trafficking came with even longer sentences. However, the longer sentences imposed to lower crime had insubstantial effect on arrest rates and did not deter recidivism. Minimum sentences directed toward drug users developed as a result of Nixon’s initiative to significantly reduce crime rates by incarcerating drugs users. This initiative, coined by Nixon as the “War on Drugs,” failed its main purpose of eliminating drug use and significantly reducing the number of drug users. During Ronald Reagan’s presidency in 1987, drug arrests accounted for 7.4 percent of the total of all arrests reported to the FBI and by 2007, drug arrests had risen to 13.0 percent of all arrests. Also, the incarceration rates for drug related crimes disproportionally affects minorities, especially African Americans. According to E. Ann Carson, a statistician for the United States Department of Justice, the number of African Americans imprisoned on December 31, 2013 consisted of almost 3% of African American male U.S. residents of all ages, compared to 0.5% of white