“War on drugs” is driven by a stereotypical approach against African Americans and Hispanics a majority of whom are dependent on the public defense due to poverty. This has stretched on the available public defenders (Chin,…
Before reading the preface my view of “tough on crime” drug polices was that if drug offenders are charged for a drug crime it is considered a misdemeanor. I thought when offenders are release from prison they were mandatory to attend rehabilitation program to receive appropriate drug treatments. However, the “tough on crime” polices resulted in the large increase of federal and state prison for mass incarceration of black American in the war on drugs. My perspective on drug enforcement changed due to reading the preface of “The New Jim Crow”. I did not realize that drug war in ghetto communities was not because of where the violent offenders are located or people uses drugs. The drug war was focused was the increase of drug arrests on black…
The rest of the book entails the effects of the War on Drugs. I found it particularly interesting how the justice system/police have sought different ways to take people to jail based on hunches on drugs or using minor traffic violations as an excuse to stop motorists for drug investigations- even when there is no profound evidence that the motorist has engaged in a drug crime. Also, it was interesting to read how the Supreme Court (whose responsibility is to protect minorities from majoritarian democracy) has placed somewhat of an infringement on minorities fourth amendment…
Today’s society is known as the “Era of Color Blindness.” The war on drugs from the past to the future has not changed according to Michelle Alexander. The previous Jim Crowe law may be eradicated, but the law was brought back into effect by former president Ronald Reagan, known as the “War on Drugs.” The war on drugs that was put into effect by Ronald Reagan was targeted to lower class communities that had a violent crime rate. Focusing on the “Drug War” took light off a pressing issue known as racial caste in America by making harsher punishments for people who used or sold drugs. Even though the focus was in lower class communities it was also just as common in the middle to upper class communities. The “War on Drugs”…
Without this book, many people would not have known the full scale of the War on Drugs and its effects on poor communities, especially poor communities of color, as many police officers view blacks and latinos as targets, although whites have used illegal drugs at a much larger scale. This is why…
“The therapeutic reduction, however, denies that persons are ever moral agents, responsible for their actions, and implies instead that they can never be understood and reasoned with as autonomous equals” (Delattre, E. J., p.259, 2011). Reviewing the seminar slides it states that since society is corrupt, then so is law enforcement. I don’t think just because society is corrupted means that all police office departments are corrupt, but it’s all about what type of people you have working for you as a police officer. I think if society protected illegal drug users under the “Americans with Disabilities Act”, then more and more people will start to claim that they have a disability just to get the drugs they want. In the book it states that “Within ten years, we will have everything classified as a disease, and then we can hope for justice and the end of discrimination in this country” (Delattre, E. J., P.268, 2011).…
The 1960s were marked by a plethora of social and political changes, with the counterculture movement being one of the most widely historicized and familiar aspects out of this period. While this movement did contribute to positive changes in some ways, a rise in drug usage amongst young people occurred. Due to the inherent dangers drugs impose on the individual, concerns were raised throughout the country. In response, President Richard Nixon moved to enact legislation hoping to curb drug usage. This initial “war on drugs” was controversial and characterized by very little success.…
Laura Dimon writes that in the 1990’s, marijuana possession made up almost 80% of the arrests that occurred. This is just one example of how the criminal justice system is broken. Laura Dimon also writes that four out of every five arrests for drugs was for drug possession, not drug dealing. According to Mike Lee, families were left torn apart by a “crime wave” that never actually existed. It was simply a cover story for the justice system to use to target colored people and people who live in the poorer communities. Rich white neighborhoods were not raided and stripped of all belongings. Rich, white neighborhoods were not persecuted for the use of cocaine. But black communities were regularly persecuted and torn apart for the smallest part of any type of drug. Crack is known as a white mans cocaine and crack actually carries a higher sentence than cocaine. Crack is cheaper to buy so the poorer people would buy crack. Larger amounts of cocaine carried a shorter prison sentence compared to lesser amounts of crack, many people believe this was because cocaine was found in rich, white communities, where as crack was found in the poverty stricken black communities. The justice system also has more drug users instead of drug dealers incarcerated. Instead of going for the real problem, the drug dealers, the justice system is going after the…
There is a large majority of people arguing good points on either side of this drug war, in which they are opposed with one another, in which one side says, “Drug enforcement is engaged in controlling the spread and remedying the effects of drug abuse.” There are also those that state that these laws and programs are designed to help decrease America’s dependence on illicit substances. The people from the another side of this argument begs to differ, as they claim that the drug war is an utter failure, ex-presidential candidate Ron Paul explains, “This war on drugs has been a detriment to personal liberty and it 's been a real abuse of liberty." In another section Ron mentions that, “Our prisons are full with people who have used drugs who should be treated as patients -- and they 're non-violent. Someday we 're going to awaken and find out that the prohibition we are following right now with drugs is no more successful, maybe a lot less successful, than…
The "war on drugs" started over 100 years ago in San Francisco, California when the first law against drugs was enacted to stop the "smoking of opium." In all actuality, this law was against the Chinese people living in the U.S., because they were known for smoking of the opium as a custom. The government feared that opium induced Chinese men would try to lure white women to them. The next drug that was considered illegal was cocaine. The law enacted against cocaine was against Negroes. The government feared that Negroes would use the drug and become violent and go on rampages of raping white women. (Schaffer, n.d.)…
In this paper I will evaluate America's War on Drugs. More specifically, I will outline our nation's general drug history and look critically at how Congress has influenced our current ineffective drug policy. Through this analysis I hope to show that drug prohibition policies in the United States, for the most part, have failed. Additionally, I will highlight and evaluate the influences acting on individual legislators' decisions to continue support for these ineffective policies as a more general demonstration of Congress' role in the formation of our nation's drug policy strategy. Finally, I will conclude this analysis by outlining the changes I feel necessary for future progress to be made. Primary among these changes are a general promotion of drug education and the elimination of our current system's many de-legitimating hypocrisies.…
The war on drugs in the United States is an expensive and deadly ongoing battle that has not yet been won. The term war on drugs provides drug distributors with more income due to the illegal nature of drugs. Americans do not have readily available easy access to many types of drugs that are illegal. Because narcotics are illegal that is enough for many people to want drugs. This is a major problem faced today in our prison systems throughout the United States. Especially in the state of California where many people find their way into our criminal justice system due to many factors…
“Instead of war on poverty, they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me. And I ain't never did a crime I ain’t have to do.” -Tupac. The war on drugs targeted many communities particularly those of color. Throughout America, people of color have always been the target. In the 1980’s and 90’s the drug war increased drastically. The war on drugs was just another reason to fuck with the people of color. The United States constantly targets minorities, and the crisis of the drug war increased the prison population causing even more coas in the country.…
“The War on Drugs is one of the major reasons for a high level of black incarceration. The explosion of both the prison population and its racial disparity are largely attributable to aggressive street-level enforcement of the drug laws and harsh sentencing of drug offenders.” While the “war on drugs” itself is not a bad thing only, it is only targeting one part of the problem instead of the whole problem. African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense (“Criminal”, par.13). This system is problematic because it only focuses on inner city areas. The attention the inner city communities receive put a facade that it is only a problem there and nowhere else. About 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African Americans report using an illicit drug (“Criminal”, par. 11). Caucasians use drugs five times as much as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at ten times the rate of Whites. In short, white people do more drugs, and black people serve more time. In addition, officers already perceive black people as more…
Our society is in need of true social reform in order to limit crime, and limit racial and class divides. The War on Drugs has done nothing but being ineffective and is not fair to people of color or to people in a lower class. The War on Drugs has actually been very counterproductive because not only has it ignored the true problems in our society, but it has labeled drug offenders as “evil”. In reality, that is just another prejudice being reinforced through old legislation. In fact, that particular prejudice can even be one of the reasons behind mass incarceration. Many of the offenders in prison today are low ranking drug offenders. Once legislation is put into place by the politicians addressing the true social problems in our country, issues of mass incarceration and false burdening of police can be solved. The way to begin will be for political pressures in the U.S. demanding a new stance on crime. A stance that is neither “law and order”, or “tough on crime”. This is because average crime is not committed for fun, but is committed due to problems that are buried deeply within our political system and started by politicians. A problem started by politicians, should not be blamed on figures who are meant to serve and protect U.S. citizens each and every day. That blame is just another reason for the fearful misinterpretation of those in positions of authority within our…