Preview

War On Drugs Argumentative Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
255 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
War On Drugs Argumentative Analysis
I believe the war on drugs is racist, you must only view the pie chart in Chapter 8 to see the evidence. (Macionis 2017) While African Americans account for only 13.3% of the total U.S. population they account for 40.7% of prison inmates, Hispanics account for 17.6% of the total U.S. population comprise 21.1% of the prison population and Whites who account for 62.06% of the total U.S. population comprise only 29.9% of the prison population. The video that accompanied this chapter The war on Drugs is Racist (Ehthan Nadelmen 2014). Mr. Nadelman clearly states this country’s “War on Drugs” adversely affect the poor and minorities. Blacks and Hispanics are imprisoned more often for drug offenses while Whites are more often given probation, suspended

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The war on drugs is also increasing every day and this program is designed to help anyone in this population that is in need. The Discrimination The population of the African Americans were targets for more drug charges opposed to the white population. The war has produced the most unequal outcomes between the racial groups.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Statistics show that African Americans commit only fifteen percent of drug offenses, yet they comprise up to 90% of incarcerations for drug offenses in communities throughout the country. Besides that, although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers are white, three-fourths of all people incarcerated for drug offenses have either been black or Latino. There is clearly something wrong with this picture. The big question is: why is it mostly the minority that is suffering? Looking at it in a Marxists point of view, the answer is pretty simple. It is easier for the officers of the law to exploit those of no authority, e.g. poor blacks, than those who can easily buy their way out, e.g. affluent whites. Although the majority of illegal drug users and dealers are white, three-fourths of all people incarcerated for drug offenses have either been black or Latino. “African Americans––particularly in the poorest neighborhoods––are subject to tactics and practices that would result in public outrage and scandal if committed in middle-class white neighborhoods.”(Alexander 96) What Alexander is trying to convey is that poor African Americans who receive this kind of treatment have no choice but to accept it since they have no resources to take legal action. As one former prosecutor voiced out, “It’s a lot easier to go out to the ‘hood, so to speak, and pick somebody than to put your resources in an undercover [operation in a] community where…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    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”…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “For many the American dream has become a nightmare.” This quote by Bernie Sanders tells us how he feels about America’s state right now. He wants to make the people of our country have power again and be free. Bernie Sanders should become our next president because of his ideals and his stance on marijuana, immigration, and the college for all act.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Justice System Failing

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages

    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…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One important aspect of the U.S. prison system is Drug sentencing Disparities. In “Criminal justice fact sheet (NAACP) the author states about 14 million whites and 2.6 million african americans report using an illicit drug 5 times as many whites are using drugs as african americans, yet african americans are sent to prison for drug offence at 10 times the rate of this the rate of whites. African american represent 12% of the total population of drug users, nut 38%of those arrested for drugs offenses, and 59%of those in state prison for a drug offense. This is critical to understand because it isn’t fair if a white man has the same amount of weed on him as a black man goes for 5 years. How does that make any sense.In conclusion, the U.S. Drug…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    An Unfair Drug War

    • 2110 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Drug production and drug dealing today has become a substantial source of revenue. Whether for making up budget deficits or for the enrichment of certain individuals, population groups, firms or even countries, drugs are distributed worldwide. Drugs also involve economically marginalized sectors of the population, such as peasant producers or some small-scale drug dealers, criminal organizations or certain closely-knit sectors of society in the world of business or State institutions. The recycling of profits is central to the economy and society in terms of land, real estate and financial assets. It directly involves businesses and financial institutions. The social transformations stemming from the development of the drug economy reveal a growth in the sectors of illegal activity. These issues, which now concern all parts of the world, take different shape from one region and location to another.…

    • 2110 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    If you have chronic pain or another condition requiring treatment, your doctor is likely to prescribe an opioid treatment. For physicians, opioids have been the preferred treatment for some time now. Many believe opioids are the most effective treatment available. The recent opioid crisis and new medical research are calling those assumptions into question.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to Christopher Wildeman, in his article Mass Incarceration, “New research shows that incarceration is now a much less effective method for crime control than it was before the 1990s.” The unfortunate reality is that drug-related convictions which are considered non-violent crime, is the most important cause for why prison populations are increasing in the United States. Those who are found at fault for a large percentage of these drug crimes are minorities. President Obama stated that, “[t]he real reason our prison population is so high is that over the last few decades, we’ve locked up more and more nonviolent drug offenders than ever before, for longer than ever before.” The article, The Truth about Mass Incarceration states, “[t]hey blame our prison boom on punitive, ever-longer sentences tainted by racism, particularly for drug…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Former President Nixon’s chief of staff admitted that the key was to devise a system to blame African-Americans for crime and thus the drug war was used to push and promote racial politics. However, the war on drug was never intended to end the availability of drugs or to decrease drug dealing and subsequently drug crime. Behind the drug on war was a huge money machine. Federal funding was distributed to those agencies that made the most drug arrests. Thus the incentive was not to reduce the crime rate but to get it going at the same rate. Another big benefit was that any cash, homes or cars seized from drug suspects fell into the hand of the state who could keep it for their own use. The results were devastating: people of color were arrested en masse for relatively minor, non-violent drug offenses. Most arrests were for drug possession and only 1 out of 5 was for sales. The 1990’s saw the most increase in mass incarceration and almost 80% of the increase was for the less harmful marijuana possession. Sadly the literature review shows that in many respects African-Americans are doing no better than during the times of Martin Luther King when after his assassination an uprising took place in the bigger cities. Today approximately 25% of African-Americans live below the poverty line about the same as in 1968. The racial dimension of mass incarceration in the United…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The debate over legalization marijuana and the medical use of marijuana has been the most argumentative issue throughout the history of United States. There are tons of questions that need the final answers for this controversial topic, but the most debatable one is: Should marijuana be legalized and taxed? Everything has its pros and cons. The government has the ability to find the benefits of legalizing marijuana such as: reducing the pain the medical purposes, preventing consumers from using marijuana illegally, and somehow developing the United States’ economic. Otherwise, broadly using marijuana is extremely dangerous. Marijuana should be a controlled substance for medical uses in limited departments and it should be taxed with higher…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    If there was a vote in every state to either legalize or to not legalize the use of marijuana the outcome would be the legalization of marijuana in every state. The question I have is why do so many Americans enjoy smoking marijuana? This is a huge ongoing issue that is being resolved as fast as possible. Personally, I’m against the legalization of marijuana because I see no reason for it. In this essay, I will be arguing why marijuana should not be legalized in all states. I will give counter-arguments to show why marijuana should be illegal and I will be giving the readers all the information needed to fully understand why my argument is correct. You will see questions with answers as well as facts to advance my argument.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Against America's Drug War

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Over the past four decades, drugs use remains a very serious problem in the US, even though the drug war has made these substances less accessible. There are a lot of supporting views for the motion that government should legalize drugs, the reasons being: to spend less on war drugs, to make drugs more accessible to people and scientists in need of drugs, to collect tax revenues, etc. Two well-known professors and authors, Michael Huemer and Gabor Maté, argue, in their articles, against America’s drug war with two different approaches. Even though some might agree on Huemer’s point of legalizing drugs on the basis of individual freedom, I noticed some claims that I believe are not moral to the Kantian and Utilitarian point of views. On the…

    • 1371 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As early as the Reagan administration until 1986, there were anti-drug campaign funded by the federal government were their declared $250 million war on drugs. The war on drugs were one of the main reasons for mass incarceration and is responsible for close to over half of the arrest in the United States. According to Lynch (2012), changing of drug laws have caused the increase in the number of prison population and caused the overcrowding of federal penitentiary systems. Alexander (2010) argues that race has an impact on whether or not an individual will be locked up in prison. The new drugs laws have a tendency to target those who are poorer non-white offenders; which subsequently means that more black individuals are being incarcerated…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays