The War on Drugs

1080 Words3 Pages

There are some that would argue that the war on drugs was blind justice. Others would say that the war on drugs is a war against the minority males. Then again, others would say the war on drugs is a war against women. This last argument, is not as often discussed as it is prevalent in the statistics researchers discover in studies on the war on drugs. Some of what many would view as the positive outcomes of a necessary policy, others would recognize as a distraction from the disparities and the biases lying beneath the surface. The research on this taboo topic has been explored by many professionals in various human services fields. In the Uniform Crime Report data from 2009 and 2010, there were some significant changes in the arrest rates of men and women. While men are still arrested for drug abuse violations at a much higher than women, between 2009 and 2010, the rate of women’s arrests increased 1.1%. Men, on the other hand, had a decrease of 2.3% in the number of arrest for the same offenses (FBI UCR, 2010). This shows an increasing disparity that is definitely worth considering. The increase in arrest may in fact increase the amount of prison sentences. The incarceration of women is not a much funded subject currently, so the more the population grows, the sooner the government will have to put effort into improving the quality of life in women’s prisons. In an interesting combination of the admiration of women and the damaging implications their criminal ways reveal, the government is cracking down on drug use during pregnancy. Women are always seen as delicate for their ability to produce the next generations, so they must be protected by men. This delicacy towards women is the very thing that makes them ... ... middle of paper ... ...ople in power, men, use their authority to oppress the others, women. This struggle is merely a tactic to keep their power, but it takes further research and a passion for truth to reveal this untold discrimination. References FBI. (2010). Current Year Over Previous Year Arrest Trends. FBI - Crime in the United States. Retrieved February 6, 2012, from http://www.fbi.gov/about- us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl37.xls Hirschenbaum, D. (2000). When CRACK is the Only Choice: The Effect of a Negative Right of Privacy on Drug-Addicted Women. Berkeley Women's Law Journal, 15327. Johnson v. State, 602 So. 2D 1288 (Sup. Ct. 1992). People v. Zaring, 8 Cal. App. 4Th 362 (Cal. App. Ct. 1992). Van Denend, J. (2010). Melanie Klein, Drug Crimes, and Women. Studies In Gender & Sexuality, 11(1), 10-23. doi:10.1080/15240650903445799.

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