Anti Drug Abuse Act Of 1986

For many years, drugs have been the center of crime and the criminal justice system in the United States. Due to this widespread epidemic, President Richard Nixon declared the “War on Drugs” in 1971 with a campaign that promoted the prohibition of illicit substances and implemented policies to discourage the overall production, distribution, and consumption. The War on Drugs and the U.S. drug policy has experienced the most significant and complex challenges between criminal law and the values of today’s society. With implemented drug polices becoming much harsher over the years in order to reduce the overall misuse and abuse of drugs and a expanded federal budget, it has sparked a nation wide debate whether or not they have created more harm than good. When looking at the negative consequences of these policies not only has billions of dollars gone to waste, but the United States has also seen public health issues, mass incarceration, and violent drug related crime within the black market in which feeds our global demands and economy. With this failed approach for drug prohibition, there continues to be an increase in the overall production of illicit substances, high rate of violence, and an unfavorable impact to our nation.

“The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of its prisoners. The cost of housing all those inmates: $80 billion a year” (Whitaker, 2016). The United States (U.S.) has been fighting an unwinnable war for the past thirty years. The U.S. government and the War on Drugs has disproportionately impacted African Americans and the prison population has quadrupled over the last thirty years. The U.S Government polices of the war on drugs have contributed to the mass incarceration of African American males due to sentencing and race disparities, over-policing, and anti-drug policies.

Ronald Reagan was not only a master of foreign policy, but was also skillful with his domestic policy as well, such as his handling of illegal drug use within the United States. Reagan began his administration’s “war on drugs” in October 1982 (Glass). On that date he declared that illegal drugs and their production and transportation were hurting America (Glass). From then on, he made it clear that his administration would act against illegal drugs, and would do what it could to stop their influence. Congress, Reagan’s Vice President George H.W. Bush, and even his wife all put forth great contributions to the fight against illegal drugs. Ronald Reagan began to take action of his own in September 1986 when he helped to put forth and effectively pass Executive Order 12564 (Drug-Free Federal Workplace). The order was intended to create a drug-free work environment for every worker in America, and made it the law to not use drugs while at a workplace (Drug-Free Federal Workplace). Also, he signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 into law (Anti-Drug Abuse Act). The Anti-Drug Abuse Act created different types of minor and major penalties for drug offenses, and also created the

In the beginning of the documentary, The House I Live In, President Nixon gives a speech declaring, “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive” In 1971, this speech made Preside Nixon the first president to ever declare a “war on drugs” in America. He fought by battling, both the supply and demand for drugs. Karst J. Besteman (1989) describes this “war” as a “strong initiative against drug dealers and expansion of drug treatment facilities” (p. 290). The beginning of Nixon’s “war” was focused on providing treatment and rehabilitation, after the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1973, the focal point of the

Richard Nixon was one of our most infamous presidents. He is now notoriously known for numerous scandals, one being the Watergate scandal, and consequentially his resignation. But during his time as president, he would influence one aspect of domestic affairs that would inevitably criminalize most minorities and is counterintuitive to its cause. Drugs. Nixon had persuaded the nation that drugs were our greatest enemy. He formally declared war on drugs in a press conference speech. The reason behind this declaration and the speech itself are important when evaluating Nixon’s performance as a public speaker because they show the strategies he used to sway his people into the anti-drugs mindset that is still held by many today.

Mass incarceration is known as a net of laws, policies, and rules that equates to the American criminal justice system. This series of principles of our legal system works as an entrance to a lifelong position of lower status, with no hope of advancement. Mass incarceration follows those who are released from prison through exclusion and legalized discrimination, hidden within America. The New Jim Crow is a modernized version of the original Jim Crow Laws. It is a modern racial caste system designed to keep American black men and minorities oppressed with laws and regulations by incarceration. The system of mass incarceration is the “new Jim Crow” due to the way the U.S. criminal justice system uses the “War on Drugs” as the main means of allowing discrimination and repression. America currently holds the highest rate of incarceration in the world, and even more African American men imprisoned, although white men are more likely to commit drug crimes but not get arrested. The primary targets of the criminal justice system are men of color. Mass incarceration is a rigid, complex system of racial control that resembles Jim Crow.

The history of Jim Crow is a story of white power, but it is also a story of black survival and resilience. The Jim Crow era lasted nearly a century because of the federal government and there is still work to be done today. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander, is a book about the discrimination of African Americans in today 's society. One of Alexander 's main points is the War on Drugs and how young African American males are targeted and arrested due to racial profiling. Racial profiling, discrimination, and segregation is not as popular as it used to be during the Civil War, however, Michelle Alexander digs deeper, revealing the truth about our government and the racial scandal in the prison systems. The term mass incarceration refers to not only to the criminal justice system but also to the larger web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control the labeled criminals both in and out of prison today. The future of the black community itself may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society.

The U.S. prison system is one of many great controversies when compared to other correctional systems. America’s prison population has increased by 700% (2.4 million current inmates) since the start of the war on drugs in 1971. As a result of this “war”, people that fall into the racial minority have suffered as a direct consequence of unjust legislation. Our prison system is known for its overrepresentation of minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. This unfortunately gives these groups of people a perennial negative stigma as a result. I argue that the U.S. prison industrial-complex emphatically displays signs of prejudice and racism and disproportionately incarcerates people of color at a rate higher than whites. Yes, there are skeptics who think “the left’s prison-complex” is wrong about their theory of mass incarceration but the statistical data and concrete facts in support of my argument are very compelling.

The 10 steps on Tonry’s list are viable as a start to ending unjust convictions, and harsh sentencing for minor petty crimes, such as minor drug offenses that have otherwise been overly penalized. Yet as Michelle Alexander notes, simply reducing sentencing does not disturb the basic structure of mass incarceration, which is a racial caste system that targets African American males. As long as they continue to be arrested and labeled drug attics and

The United States incarcerates more people, per capita, than any other nation in the entire world. State and local prisons and jails account for about 80% of incarcerations. Although crime rates have decreased since the 1990s, incarceration rates have soared. According to a recent Prison Policy Initiative publication, approximately 2.3 million people are currently “locked up” in the United States. Of these 2.3 million people, 1 in 5 are locked up for a drug related offense. Statistics show that prisoners and felons imprisoned for drug related crimes are disproportionately Black and Hispanic. The mass incarceration issue in the United States derives from the many arrests associated with these “offenses” regarding drugs and the war on drugs.

Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness goes into great detail on race related issues that were specific to black males, the mass incarceration, and how that lead to the development of institutionalized racism in the United States. She compares the Jim Crow with recent phenomenon of mass incarceration and points out that the mass incarceration is a network of laws, policies, customs and institutions that have been working together to warrant the subordinating status of black males. In this paper I will go into a brief examination of the range of issues that she mentions in her book that are surrounding the mass incarceration of black male populations.

Does the US prison system operates as a new Jim Crow system? Or, to put it another way, whether “mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions” that locks black Americans, particularly males, into an undercast. This essay agrees that Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, is correct that the US prison system and mass incarceration operates as a new form of racism. The effects on black Americans of mass incarceration are striking, and yes, mass incarceration does have the result of continuing and reproducing racially biased policies and systems from previous racist generations. These effects are not just felt by the black Americans

The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration have been two very well-known topics of society. While these have taken place during the Cold War, there is still a continuance in them today. The impact that has been left on society from these issues have stuck around, while mass incarceration is still of talk today.

The war on drugs is also apart of the mass incarceration problem. Laws on drugs, such as Crack and Cocaine, are written to be somewhat “color blind,” but is often times not the case. The 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act instituted a 5 year, without parole,

The war on drugs dates back to 1971, when President Richard Nixon first popularized it. His presidency and administration were primarily responsible for getting the ball rolling. Following his presidency, every administration has more or less doubled down on his stance on the war on drugs. It has become a hot political issue that politicians now use to swing votes by the use of “fear” and promises of “safety”. However, the reality is that we are not anymore safe than we were in the 70’s. Drug use is still rampant. Users are still able to obtain what they so desire. The only thing that has changed is the amount of individuals we are putting behind bars, the amount of debt our country takes on every year, and countless other waste of resources that produce minimal return. Ultimately, it has done more harm than good for this country. Collectively, over the last 50 years, the war on drugs has led to the development of many policies that have had a detrimental effect on our society 's well-being, and that is why we should end the war on drugs.