The main themes/points/arguments covered by Dr. Parenti in chapter 1 of Lockdown America 1st Nixon administration link narcotics use to fears of crime in society and push through legislation and develop government agencies to change criminal justice in America by Nixon administration officials attempted to resolve this issues in many ways . First Nixon asked for and received a gigantic increase in LEAA funds which amounted up to 268 million to support local law enforcement for training and new tactics to take drug crime down. In 1971 Nixon claimed that drug addicts/Dealers steal more than $2 billion worth of property every year. The FBI however the total value of all property stolen in the United States that year was $1.3 billion which was still a big deal anyway .Despite all these kinds of problems, fighting drugs became a crucial weapon in the war on crime.with …show more content…
all that going on it scared America so nixon had the perfect opportunity to use the fear of this drug war to his advantage " On October 15 Nixon signed the Organized Crime Control Bill — also known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Turning to his Attorney General John Mitchell and the malevolent FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Nixon said: "I give you the tools. You do the job."-(Lockdown America .p 11) Under this law RICO anyone who has committed two acts or more of racketeering activity and is drawn from a list of 35 crimes and 27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes in a 10 year period can be charged with racketeering. ODALE's 300 commandos equipped with all the best gear and broad new RICO powers — were deployed at ghetto listening posts with orders to search and destroy.But the press generated by ODALE bullying tactics was not all good.(LockDown America .p13) This law was to try to reduce the local distribution of drugs through the strict enforcement of drug legislation in 1968 there was growing scary public concern over the increase in recreational drug use that happened during 1960s and the many social problems that resulted from this drug use but it mainly targeted ghettos and
blacks. Police learned about new training,tactics, gear and funding change during this period of history because technology was evolving gave police things such as car radios, high-tech dispatch systems, and mobile command and control centers so communication was wireless and faster also police forensic labs had loads of toys for taking and matching dental files processing samples of organic compounds. The social climate was bad because Police were brutal and repressive, but ineffective urban riots caused distrust everything was isolated The theme of the law and order says that effective punishment with a mix of with incarceration is the most effective means of crime prevention. By the summer of 1968, 81 percent of respondents to one Harris poll believed that law and order had broken down and blamed the chaos on "communists" and "Negroes who start riots." (lock down america .p 7) This was the main theme and points of chapter 1 of this novel and it points out the what fear can do it can make or break a country.
Increased tensions during the 1960s in the context of the Civil Rights Movement started to cause an increase in crime, sparking a newfound belief in incarcerating the masses to prevent more crime from occurring. During the 1970s, the likelihood of being incarcerated increased for nearly every citizen, especially low-level offenders. Clear and Frost thoroughly explain that the Punishment Imperative in the 1980s was caused by changes in government “policies and practices associated with the increasingly ubiquitous War on Drugs” (31). Changes in sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimum sentences, and three strikes legislation were though to be initially helpful in decreasing the rate of incarceration, but they proved to do the exact opposite. Policies also regarding reentry into society, access to education, public housing, and child custody for ex-convicts continued to play a major role in the increase in incarceration because newly released convicts had an extremely difficult time reintegrating into society. Clear and Frost continue to argue their point as they reach incapacitation in the 1990s, where they discuss how the government focused generally on increasing the lengths of stay within prisons instead of increasing the amount of people being incarcerated. Clear and Frost use quantitative data to explain the government policy called
Nixon’s run as an international crook finally caught up to him in 1972, when burglars were caught and arrested inside the Democratic national headquarters at the Watergate hotel complex in Washington. Nixon attempted to cover it up, but eventually he was found caught in his own web of lies, and was forced to resign in 1974 (Lecture 30, December 12). Nixon’s promises of a return to normalcy were shattered with these revelations. The confidence in the Presidency that he had hoped to restore was even lower than it was when he entered office. If the 1960’s were defined by political and social instability, then Richard Nixon did nothing but further the sixties into the 1970’s.
Without a body man has a mind, but lacking a sound man then man has nothing. That theory is the basis behind why psychological warfare is successful. However, problems arise when psychological warfare becomes used on the wrong people. Evans D Hopkins, a former prisoner himself, wrote the short story “Lockdown” to discuss the act of prison lockdown and the changed prison system mentality during his jail time. Vivid delivery and style delivers the experience to the naive human who does not understand how prison currently functions. The light shining on prisons though is problematic. Prevalent issues exist through the system change, and lockdowns do not provide assistance to jailors or inmates. A look inside the ineffectual
Morgan Ruth P. “Nixon, Watergate, and the study of the Presidency”. Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1, The Nixon Presidency. 1996, pp. 217-238
The war on drug not only change the structure of the criminal justice system, it also change the ways that police officers, prosecutors and judges do their jobs. Even worse, the way politicians address crime. The tough stand on drugs started during the Nixon presidency, most of the resources was focus on medical treatment rather than punishment. Although it was a better strategy and alternative than the drug war policies that exist today, it was a very divisive issue between the conservatives and the liberals. The war on drug ignited during the Reagan administration, two third of the financial resources were being spent on law enforcement. In addition, the end of the cold war left the United States with weaponry and resources that needed to be repurposed. As a result, small town were given high power grade artilleries and weaponry, and means to form specialized tactical units such as SWAT teams in case of unusual event. To maintain and justify the need for these new expenditures, SWAT teams are used in any drug warran...
While the War on Drugs may have been portrayed as a colorblind movement, Nixon’s presidency and reasoning for its implementation solidifies that it was not. Nixon coined the term “War on Drugs” in his 1971 anti-drug campaign speech, starting the beginning of an era. He voiced, “If there is one area where the word ‘war’ is appropriate, it is in the fights against crime” (DuVernay, 13th). This terminology solidified to the public that drug abusers were an enemy, and if the greatest publicized abusers were black, then black people were then enemy. This “war” started by Nixon claimed it would rid the nation of dealers, but in fact, 4/5 of arrests were for possession only (Alexander, 60). Nixon employed many tactics in order to advance the progress
Woolley, John T., and Gerhard Peters. "Richard Nixon: Special Message to the Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control." The American Presidency Project. The American Presidency Project, n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Mass incarceration has caused the prison’s populations to increase dramatically. The reason for this increase in population is because of the sentencing policies that put a lot of men and women in prison for an unjust amount of time. The prison population has be caused by periods of high crime rates, by the medias assembly line approach to the production of news stories that bend the truth of the crimes, and by political figures preying on citizens fear. For example, this fear can be seen in “Richard Nixon’s famous campaign call for “law and order” spoke to those fears, hostilities, and racist underpinnings” (Mauer pg. 52). This causes law enforcement to focus on crimes that involve violent crimes/offenders. Such as, gang members, drive by shootings, drug dealers, and serial killers. Instead of our law agencies focusing their attention on the fundamental causes of crime. Such as, why these crimes are committed, the family, and preventive services. These agencies choose to fight crime by establishing a “War On Drugs” and with “Get Tough” sentencing policies. These policies include “three strikes laws, mandatory minimum sentences, and juvenile waives laws which allows kids to be trialed as adults.
However, before the specific outcomes of Congressional influence and policy impact can be evaluated it becomes important to first review the general history and current situation of drugs today. Our present drug laws were first enacted at the beginning of the century. At the time, recreational use of narcotics was not a major social issue. The first regulatory legislation was for the purpose of standardizing the manufacturing and purity of pharmaceutical products. Shortly after, the first criminal laws were enacted which addressed opium products and cocaine. Although some states had prohibited the recreational use of marijuana, there was no federal criminal legislation until 1937. By contrast, the use of alcohol and its legality was a major social issue in United States in the early 20th century. This temperance movement culminated in the prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Recreational drug use, particularly heroin, became more prevalent among the urban poor during the early ?60s. Because of the high cost of heroin and its uncertain purity, its use was associated with crime and frequent overdoses.
The “Marihuana Tax Act” was passed in August 1937, and took effect on October 1, an incident which would forever change the country. The main reason behind the ban placed upon Marijuana was the same as most other drug prohibitions – the oppression of minorities. Case in point, the first anti-drug law on record in the United States was passed in San Francisco in 1875. Opium was outlawed at that time due to concerns that Chinese immigrants who used the drug were “ruining” white women by associating with them in Opium dens. (Schaffer sec. 1)
The war on drugs began with the presidential term of President Nixon in the 1970s. According to drugpolicy.org, “He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies, and pushed through measures such as mandatory sentencing and no-knock warrants. Nixon temporarily placed marijuana in Schedule One, the most restrictive category of drugs.”
The following is a summary of the President’s policy emphasizing on the President’s stated objectives. Stopping drug use before it starts, providing drug treatment, and attacking the economic basis of the drug trade are the main positions the President stressed. The President’s policy was analyzed by the important tasks played by law enforcement, schools and the community. The apprehension of major drug organizations will be explained how they attribute to the policy. The effectiveness of the President’s drug policy will also be evaluated.
Christian organizations had a meeting with congress and made a claim that drug abusers were hazardous, wicked individuals. These groups thought that the drug use among foreign individuals like the Chinamen and corrupt Mexicans were a threat for the American born individuals. These groups convinced Congress to criminalize drugs. One-hundred years ago some drugs was legal to possess and even children could buy drugs like morphine, opium, marijuana, and cocaine. These drugs if got caught with them today could result in a life sentence it today’s society.
The book Armed & Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman is a biography of Gina Gallo career as a police officer. She served as a police officer for Chicago P.D. from 1982-1998. Gallo addresses the infamous “Blue Wall of Silence” by recalling events in which it was used. She offers a unique perspective of her duty as a police officer, she not only tells of incidences and crimes she dealt with but also what goes through an officers mind afterwards.
In Illicit Drugs and Crime, Bruce L. Benson and David W. Rasmussen (Professors of Economics, Florida State University, and Research Fellows, the Independent Institute), reply with a resounding no. Not only has the drug war failed to reduce violent and property crime but, by shifting criminal justice resources (the police, courts, prisons, probation officers, etc.) away from directly fighting such crime, the drug war has put citizens’ lives and property at greater risk, Benson and Rasmussen contend.