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War on drugs and drug trafficking
War against drugs in America
War against drugs in America
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The minimum sentencing regarding drug crimes should be reduced because it negatively impacts everyone involved and is an unjust punishment across the board. I will discuss how the War on Drugs came about, how the current system for these crimes is racist and classist, the negative impacts that come from it across the board, the prison overcrowding issues, and how the minimum sentencing policy is ineffective. No matter how you look at it this issue, one wins in this situation and it’s time for a change.
On July 13th, President Barack Obama announced that he commuted the sentences of 46 nonviolent drug offenders. This was a huge step towards the right direction of reforming the criminal justice system. As Obama said himself, “it is time to restore
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For police officers who want to solve more violent, severed cases, it is practically impossible for them to make as much as the officers making arrests for petty, nonviolent drug crimes. More often than not, law enforcement officers are paid based on the amount of arrests they pay. Why would an officer pursue more rape, murder, and burglary cases when they could simple make a few easy drug arrests and get paid the same amount or more with half the work? “The financial incentive built into the system virtually guarantee that the overwhelming majority of drug arrest in the United States will be for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses,” as stated by Michelle Alexander, a civil right advocate and writer. As the amount of petty, drug arrests for nonviolent offenses increases, the respect for police officers and the laws they’re trying to enforce is lost. Although it is not the officer’s fault to blame, the current judicial system pins them up as the bad guy. Making it so that the current system not only hurts those being convicted, but also all the law enforcement involved. With the way the system is set up now, it police officers unable to solve difficult crimes. Drug crimes are easy arrests, and the frequency of them makes causes a police officer’s ability to solve real, hard-hitting cases virtually nonexistent. As for the judges involved, the minimum sentencing requirements basically make it impossible for the judges to actually do their job. With the mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent drug crimes, it takes the judge’s ability to serve justice out of the equation. No matter what the individual case may be, there’s no way for an offender to get anything less than that of the mandatory minimum. It’s practically ridding these citizens of the right to a fair trial; seeing that no matter what the judge rules as fair,
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.
Within our society, there is a gleaming stigma against the drug addicted. We have been taught to believe that if someone uses drugs and commits a crime they should be locked away and shunned for their lifetime. Their past continues to haunt them, even if they have changed their old addictive ways. Everyone deserves a second chance at life, so why do we outcast someone who struggles with this horrible disease? Drug addiction and crime can destroy lives and rip apart families. Drug courts give individuals an opportunity to repair the wreckage of their past and mend what was once lost. Throughout this paper, I will demonstrate why drug courts are more beneficial to an addict than lengthy prison sentences.
Kids start being introduced to drugs at a very young age because the first interaction with them is being told not to do any of them. Most kids have no idea what drugs are until this program is introduced in elementary schools telling kids not to do drugs. In “There’s No Justice in the War on Drugs”, Milton Friedman talks about the injustice of drugs and the harsh reality of being addicted to drugs, and the causes or side effects that come along with them. The author clearly argues the “war on drugs” and uses analysis and data to prove his argument. The author agrees that the use of government to keep kids away from drugs should be enforced, but the use of government to keep adults away from drugs, should not be enforced. The author has a clear side of his argument and the audience can clearly see that. He argues against the “war on drugs” claim that President Richard M. Nixon made twenty-five years ago, he adds ethos, logos, and pathos to defend his argument, and uses a toulmin
“[The war on drugs] has created a multibillion-dollar black market, enriched organized crime groups and promoted the corruption of government officials throughout the world,” noted Eric Schlosser in his essay, “A People’s Democratic Platform”, which presents a case for decriminalizing controlled substances. Government policies regarding drugs are more focused towards illegalization rather than revitalization. Schlosser identifies a few of the crippling side effects of the current drug policy put in place by the Richard Nixon administration in the 1970s to prohibit drug use and the violence and destruction that ensue from it (Schlosser 3). Ironically, not only is drug use as prevalent as ever, drug-related crime has also become a staple of our society. In fact, the policy of the criminalization of drugs has fostered a steady increase in crime over the past several decades. This research will aim to critically analyze the impact of government statutes regarding drugs on the society as a whole.
Felman (2012) explains this by saying “in the last twenty-five years since the advent of mandatory sentences for drug offenses and the Sentencing Guidelines, the average federal sentence has roughly tripled in length” (p. 369). The development of these guidelines indicates that for the same crimes that individuals committed previously, they are now receiving longer sentences. Mandatory sentencing also suggests that no matter an individual’s circumstance, they will receive the same punishment as everyone else. Although this is a step towards the impartiality that the criminal justice system is constantly seeking, there are certain issues that have been found with what can be deemed as harsh, mandatory
The Drug Enforcement Administration has many careers and responsibilities within the the entire agency. there are many different careers like Special agent, Diversion investigator, Intelligence research specialist, Forensic scientist, and Student/entry level positions. Theres a very big responsibility of the Drug Enforcement Administration and thats to Enforce laws on drugs and protect the people from harmful substances. Many harmful substances are getting out to the people everyday so the DEA must take actions against this threat to try and prevent or catch it before its to late. Many people try to get in with the DEA but its just as difficult as becoming a police officer now a days. There are many pros and cons to working for the Drug Enforcement Administration some good and some not so good.
Nonviolent drug offenders should not be given mandatory jail sentences because the prisons don’t have the room, it already costs a lot of money to run the prisons, and by them putting the offenders into prison they are taking a parent away from a child who may need them the most. Drugs are illegal and yes most people involved with them are or become dangerous. Those are the types of offenders that should be thrown into prison especially if they are the type that harm our Law Enforcement. But if the offenders are nonviolent there is no need to lock them up when we can’t even afford to. They could get some other type of punishment for getting involved in the illegal activity.
America's War on Drugs: Policy and Problems. 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.
To begin, Mandatory minimum sentences result in prison overcrowding, and based on several studies, it does not alleviate crime, for example crimes such as shoplifting or solicitation. These sentencing guidelines do not allow a judge to take into consideration the first time offender, differentiate the deviance level of the offender, and it does not allow for the judge to alter a punishment or judgment to each individual case. When mandatory sentencing came into effect, the drug lords they were trying to stop are not the ones being affected by the sentences. It is the nonviolent, low-level drug users who are overcrowding the prisons as a result of these sentences. Both the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Department of Justice have determined that mandatory sentencing is not an effective way to deter crime. Studies show that mandatory minimums have gone downhill due to racial a...
Mandatory minimum sentencing is the practice of requiring a predetermined prison sentence for certain crimes. The most notable mandatory minimums are the ones implemented in the 70’s and 80’s, hoping to combat the rising drug problem. Mandatory minimum sentencing has existed in the United States nearly since its very birth, with the first mandatory minimums being put into place around 1790. Recently, as the marijuana laws of many states have scaled back in severity, the issue of mandatory minimums has caused controversy in the US. There are two distinct sides to the argument surrounding mandatory minimum sentencing. One group believes we have a moral obligation to our country requiring us to do no less than lock up anyone with illegal drugs
As described in novel The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference the course of any trend, movement, social behavior, and even the spread of a virus has a general trend line that in essence resemble a parabola with 3 main critical points. Any trend line first starts from zero, grows until it crosses the first tipping point, and then spreads like wildfire. Afterwards, the trend skyrockets to its carrying capacity (Galdwell, 2000). Then the trend gradually declines before it reaches the next tipping and suddenly falls out of favor and out of memory. Gladwell defines tipping points as the “magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire” (Gladwell, 2000).
On Friday, President Obama announced grants of clemency to 42 prisoners serving sentences for non-violent drug offenses. Nearly half of the prisoners whose sentences the President commuted were serving life terms. Most of these prisoners are expected to be released on October 1, while others may have to wait until next June.
The history of the Drug War has a clear and distinctive impact on how such forfeiture laws came into play. It also serves as further evidence to say that the war on drugs is not about drugs. Individuals have no choice to oblige officers if they are told that their property must be forfeited, on top of the fact that they must face whatever convictions await them in court. Lower class individuals are not being given state-appointed lawyers when they cannot afford their own. This makes it improbable for them to adequately defend themselves in a court of law, given the chance. Through this, connections can be made between high incarceration rates, and the profit generated to high status individuals through prisoner incarceration. Reform for CAF is slow, but nevertheless steady in its quest for fairness, given to individuals of all class backgrounds. The supreme court is aware of the wrongdoings present in CAF, yet they are reluctant to invoke change themselves. Inevitably, the larger issue of the drug war must be tackled in order to abolish CAF. Only then can we progress as a country, one which bases itself upon objective
The Pros and Cons of Drug Legalization Should drugs be legalized? Drugs are resources that are capable of affecting the American economy in many ways—both positively and negatively. Drugs often have a bad name, even though they help us everyday in medical cases. and the drugs with the worst reputations are not the most abused drugs. One may benefit from the legalization of drugs in many ways, while others would suffer greatly.
We need to reduce sentencing for victimless crimes such as drug-related misdemeanors and other civil crimes. This will prevent from those type of crimes from ruining people’s lives. It also would help the incarceration rate to lower and make the criminal justice stronger. For example, a woman, Dana Bowerman who was convicted to 19 years in prison because of drug-related problems under the influence of her father (www.pbs.org). 19 years in prison and all she wanted was a second chance. Moreover, it wasn’t even a violent crime. There are actual serious criminals who get less time than that. Moreover, that ruins families. By reforming this, neighborhoods can get better and families closer. That way children won’t grow up in an environment where