Due to the high drug epidemic in the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a call to change the laws surrounding the penalties for drug possession. This began as an effort to reduce the sale and use of illicit drugs. This law was known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The law stated that if a person was in possession of four ounces of narcotics the minimum sentence would be fifteen years to life. This was approximately the same about of time as someone being sentenced for second-degree murder. This was one of the most abrasive moves taken in the war against drugs. There were several issues surrounding this laws; should those convicted be better served in a treatment facility, the conviction rate was still high but crime did not go down, and rising recidivism rates for non-violent offenders.
In April of 2009, the state legislature that removed the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The reform shifted away from mass incarceration towards a public health model. The two key components of this reform were to remove the mandatory minimum sentences, and restoration of judicial discretion to order treatment and rehabilitation as an alternative to incarceration. Since the reform the legislation has been constantly making revisions to the law. It has added the removal of prison mandates and created more judicial diversion programs, such as drug courts.
The drug courts were initially started in the early 1990’s and had a unique style of per individual for rewards and consequences based off their actions in the hopes to help them successfully re-enter the community. With that model it leaves a lot of grey area and is very subjective, stricter laws later reformed this idea. When judicial power was restored to the judges they than had the power to place clients in dr...
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...m they will reside at Riker’s till the court discharges them which usually has a quick turn around time. They must than complete the drug programs and in most cases their sentences are lowered or charges are lowered. This supports the rehabilitation model versus retribution.
While working at Riker’s I can see the emotional strain that parole causes on clients. The constant checking in, and meeting here, and drug testing is overwhelming and cumbersome. My clients specifically committed there crimes almost 20 years ago. They are both in well into their late 40’s and 50’s. My clients find it difficult to consider themselves an adult. They both maintain drug free lives but still have to report to parole. They constantly have an authority figure about them dictating their lives. Clients reported their mishaps with parole stem from their resistance to report to parole.
After viewing the documentary: America's War on Drugs - The Prison Industrial Complex, it is clear that the Criminal Justice System is in desperate need of reconstruction and repair with policies such as the mandatory minimum sentencing act which has proven to be unsuccessful and unjust in its efforts to deter 'criminals from committing illegal acts' as seen with the increase of incarcerations of the American people and the devastating effect it has had on those in prison and the family members of those incarcerated.
“The nation 's first drug court was established in Florida in 1989, and there are now more than 2,500 operating nationwide” (Rankinf and Teegardin). From that moment in 1989, America’s judicial system decided to re-evaluate how the courts had been approaching drug addiction and crime. Instead
Jones, C. (2009). Ineffective, Unjust and Inhumane: Mandatory Prison Sentences for Drug Offences. The John Howard Society of Canada.
Once these individuals in rehab serve there sentence the majority of them, won’t look straight to the next opportunity to get high, but the next opportunity for a better future after being encouraged in rehab to accomplish something in life, compared to someone’s attitude coming out of prison. One story involved a man named Richard with his wife Marcia. She was an addict who was often jailed for it, but Anthony believed like many others that “addiction can be overcome with proper help. He believed that the solution was to get her into a mental hospital [and] get her whatever she needs – Xanax, morphine, to get her chemical imbalance right. Show her some respect. (114)” Give her some working skills, so once she gets out she is capable of being successful but instead she kept getting “kicked down the steps” by the criminal justice system. The jailing and torture of addicts is routine to people serving cases for drug related offenses, who are often not built to endure prison, let alone jail. “The Justice Department estimates that 216,000 people are raped in these prisons every year. (This is the number of rapes, not the number of rapes – that is much higher.) (109)” This is ultimately shows the simple fact that many people are not built to endure
Mandatory minimums for controlled substances were first implemented in the 1980s as a countermeasure for the hysteria that surrounded drugs in the era (“A Brief History,” 2014). The common belief was that stiff penalties discouraged people from using drugs and enhanced public safety (“A Brief History,” 2014). That theory, however, was proven false and rather than less illegal drug activity, there are simply more people incarcerated. Studies show that over half of federal prisoners currently incarcerated are there on drug charges, a 116 percent percentage rise since 1970 (Miles, 2014). Mass incarceration is an ever growing issue in the United States and is the result of policies that support the large scale use of imprisonment on
Starting in 1970s, there has been an upward adjustment to sentencing making punishment more punitive and sentencing guidelines more strict. Martinson's (1974) meta-analyzies reviewed over 200 studies and concluded that nothing works in terms of rehabilitating prisoners. Rehabilitating efforts were discontinued. The War on Drugs campaign in 1970s incarcerated thousands of non-violent drug offenders into the system. In 1865, 34.3% of prison population were imprisoned for drug violation. By 1995, the percentage grew to 59.9% (figure 4.1, 104). Legislation policies like the Third Strikes laws of 1994 have further the severity of sentencing. The shift from rehabilitation to human warehouse marks the end of an era of trying to reform individuals and the beginnings of locking inmates without preparation of their release. Along with the reform in the 1970s, prosecutors are given more discretion at the expense of judges. Prosecutors are often pressure to be tough on crime by the socie...
How were drug courts established? Drug courts were implemented by Judge Gerald Wetherington in Miami’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit and Judge Herbert Klein (Siegel, 2013). When both of these judges suggested “drug court” for substance abusers, no one really believed they would work. In order to properly determine whether or not it drug courts would be worth they were first experimented in Australia, Britain, and Iceland (Siegel, 2013). Since the initial experimentation in other continent’s, we have established and are currently operating more than two-thousand drug courts amongst the United States.
The United States enacted mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions beginning in 1951 with the Boggs Act. The Boggs Act provided both mandatory minimum sentences for first-time drug convictions and it increased the length of sentences for subsequent convictions. In 1956, the Narcotics Control Act increased the minimum sentences spelled out in the Boggs Act. It also forbade judges from suspending sentences or imposing probation in cases where they felt a prison sentence was inappropriate. In 1970, the Nixon Administration and Congress negotiated a bill that sought to address drug addiction through rehabilitation; provide better tools for law enforcement in the fight against drug trafficking and manufacturing; and provide a more balanced scheme of penalties for drug crimes. The final product, the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, repealed man...
This often referred to definition is a pretty universally accepted and simple concept if we continue to do what has failed in the past why should we expect a different outcome? We shouldn’t but in the case of drug addicts the legal system holds on to the dogma of incarceration alone for the most part will somehow rehabilitate a disease. Prisoners with other medical conditions are sent to prisons that can meet there medical needs. Treatment for inmates who are mentally ill are mostly undertreated if they receive treatment at all. I will not say all because there are some states that are trying to offer treatment but unfortunately when money is tight as it has been for several years now this is one of the first programs to get defunded. I am not asking for preferential treatment for the drug abuser I am asking for equal treatment drug addiction is a disease and we need to treat it as such. The hardened criminal that has multiple convictions is not necessarily who I’m describing the first time someone is found guilty of possession this is where we start and teens who commit crimes to get drugs that is where we should start. Not to say if someone wants to get into the program that doesn’t fit that description we don’t help them out by all means we do but the earlier we can stop the progression of their criminal activity the better. If we continue to go on acting as if addicts don’t need treatment in our prisons we will continue to see them return which is insanity.
On January 3, 1973 Governor Nelson R. Rockefeller first proposed to create new drug laws that would help fight the current war on drugs that was taking over New York City. Rockefeller proposed to sentence anyone who committed a level A-1 felony, which is the highest level, would be sentence to minimum 15 years to life in prison. There was much controversy on these laws. Some were happy that a stand was finally being made; they wanted the streets to be cleaned of drugs. Others saw it as a racism tactic, to put all African Americans and Hispanics behind bars. In the end these new drug laws went into effect on May 8 1973 and were named after Rockefeller himself, Rockefeller drug laws.
The purpose of Drug Court is to address addiction/ substance use problems of criminal defendants through an intense supervision treatment program and develop productive, healthy members of society, rather than criminals. Offenders who remain incarcerated may or may not get the help or intervention they need. In many cases, the help they do receive is often limited depending on the facility or jurisdiction they are in. However, more and more correctional facilities are focusing on addiction and substance use and abuse rehabilitation and treatment programs. An excellent example of a program in a correctional facility and something, a tool, that Drug Court uses as a sanction is a program at Henrico County’s Jail East called
In the 1980s, the United States started a campaign to reduce to the use and sale of illegal drugs and this increased the numbers of those arrested, convicted, and incarcerated. William J. Stuntz (2013) argues, “mandatory minimum sentences, longer sentences for nonviolent first-time offenders, and “three strikes” laws mandating increased penalties for repeat offenders have all contributed to this increase” (p.380). Also, the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 abolished parole for federal inmates and modified how much time inmates could earn for good behavior. Inmates incarcerated after November 1, 1987 are not eligible for parole. These practices lead to limited abilities to reduce our prison population numbers. The type of drug offenses range from misdemeanor offenses of being under the influence of illicit drugs to felony offenses such as possession/transportation or sale of illicit drugs. The prisons become overpopulated with more nonviolent offenders with the current laws.
F. Roper there are seven principles on which drug courts are based: “1. retaining the participant in treatment through the pain of withdrawal, 2. helping the participant overcome fear, craving, and shame 3. Providing modulated and immediate sanctions, 4. Discriminating between behavior and addiction symptoms 5. Providing a system of rewards 6. Understanding that weather an act constitutes a punishment or a reward depends on the perception of the recipient 7. Dismissing charges as a reward” (7). The treatment for addicts is efficient, the discomfort of substance misuse in the initial step is very severe addicts often turn back to using drugs, unless they are forced to complete treatment. A team of skilled professionals work together making sure that the treatment program is sufficient to supply all the needs
In the United States, it is estimated that approximately 650,000 inmates are released from prisons each year and will return to their communities. Out of the 650,000 persons, an estimated three quarters of them have a history of substance abuse (Office of Justice Programs, 2004). To put specific figures to the above numbers, it is estimated that approximately 95% of all inmates will be eventually released from prison. Of the 95% that will be released, about 80% will be placed on some form of community supervision (Hughes et al., 2004). This group returns to the community looking for housing, employment, medical care and treatment, but often they are unable to get the assistance needed. The lack of pre-release planning and an overall lack of coordination between the various systems, often result in repeat offending and ultimately recidivism.
“Women’s most common pathways to crime involve survival efforts that result from abuse, poverty, and substance abuse” stated Quattlebaum (75). Many of the women who committed these crimes have metal disorders or abused during some point of their life. Prison will just mess with these women so they need to go to rehabilitation centers to resolve their drug issues. Rockefeller, New York’s Governor, saw drugs as a social problem, not a criminal one. He backed drug rehabilitation, housing, and job training. Several years after Rockefeller stated that he called for a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years for drug addicts and dealers. No one really understood what the law meant. Soon prosecutors in New York realized the law was doing unexpected and troubling things. The prisons were getting filled with first time offenders. Mann quotes Persico, “This was obviously unjust---and not just unjust, it was unwise; it was effective” (Mann 33-37). Rockefellers law is a perfect example of why not all drug abusers need to serve time. Many rehabilitation programs have been used at different prisons such as; Women in Recovery or Adult Redeploy. Sixty-eight percent of women who were involved with the “Women in Recovery” program completed it and had no further involvement with criminal justice systems (O’Brien 82). There are also halfway houses women can go to, to serve their time. Women should have the option to choose between rehabilitation or prison. It could