Drug Sentencing Issues

While a misdemeanor may be less serious than a felony, it is still serious and you can still be punished with incarceration and a monetary fine. Worse, once convicted of a misdemeanor, it goes on your record and can negatively impact your life in many ways. Not

Drug policy is a crucial topic in the country today. Substance abuse, as well as drug-related crime rates, are a huge problem. This is a fact. The way to fix the problem of substance abuse, however, is widely disagreed upon. Some think that stricter laws regarding drug possession and use would solve the problem, while others believe that loosening the restrictions would be a better option. The issue of legalizing drugs, especially marijuana, is one that is debated all the time. In fact, in 1995, a survey was conducted on the most important policy issues and eighty five percent of the country placed drugs at the top of the list (Falco 1996). Many states are actually beginning to decriminalize, and even

A felony is a violent crime, it is considered to be more serious than a misdemeanor. When committing a felony it would be punishable to more than a year in prison. Felonies tend to be crimes such as assault, theft, and indecent exposure, depending on how many times committed.

In the U.S. the “War on Drugs” has been at the forefront of debates and discussion since it was formally declared by President Nixon in 1971. This war continues to have many problematic consequences today, the most notable being mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offences. This issue has been extensively researched by Kieran Riley with an article in the Boston University Law Journal titled “Trial by Legislature: Why Statutory Mandatory Minimum Sentences Violate the Separation of Powers Doctrine”, Paul Cassell and Erik Luna with a peer-reviewed scholarly article titled “Sense and Sensibility in Mandatory Minimum Sentencing”, and the Families Against Mandatory Minimums organization with a policy report. All of these sources came to the same conclusion, that the many negative aspects of mandatory minimums far outweigh the few positive aspects. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses that unfairly incarcerate people are against the fundamental values of the American criminal justice system and should be repealed.

Since the 1980s drug offenses have increased from nineteen thousand to two hundred sixty five thousand in 2008. For many years now, our jails have been struggling with overcrowding. In 2010, our President Barack Obama, signed the Fair Sentencing Act. The Fair Sentencing Act helps reduce disproportion between the amount of crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The act helps in determining whether a person who is caught with five grams of crack/ powder cocaine, should receive the same sentencing as someone who has one hundred times more than that. According to the National Governor’s Association, forty-six states were faced with a budget deficit. With the implementation of the Fair sentencing Act in place, we can begin to see the reduction in jail overcrowding.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, drug use became a major concern for most Americans. As the War on Drugs and “Just Say No” campaign were being thrust into the spotlight by the government and media, the public became more aware of the scope of drug use and abuse in this country. The federal and states’ governments quickly responded by creating and implementing more harsh and punitive punishments for drug offenses. Most of these laws have either remained unchanged or become stricter in the years since then.

A misdemeanor is defined as a lesser criminal act that is less severe than a felony and more severe than a regulatory offense. A misdemeanor is the United States of America is punishable by fines, probation, community service and up to twelve months incarceration. Misdemeanors are often classified into several categories based on the severity of the crime. This category system usually has dedicated punishments.

Drug policy in America has not changed much over the past two decades, but according to Sacco (2014) “over the last decade, the United States has shifted its stated drug control policy toward a comprehensive approach; one that focuses on prevention, treatment and enforcement (p.1). One approach to this is allotting billions of dollars to the Federal Drug Control Budget. As of 2014, the majority of funding for this budget went into supply reduction (59.9%), demand reduction (40.1%), and domestic law enforcement (36.8%). Only 35 percent of the funding was provided for treatment of drug abuse, and 5.1 percent for drug abuse prevention (Sacco, 2014, p.16). These numbers have not changed since 2005, when they were within a 5 percent difference

​In the Criminal Justice system, criminal activity is separated into two types of criminal offenses: felonies and misdemeanors. A felony is a serious offense that is punishable by death or imprisonment, the sentencing is 1 year or longer in prison, depending on the seriousness of the offense. Felonies include offenses such as: murder, rape, theft, arson, and robbery. A misdemeanor is a minor offense that is punishable up to 1 year in a local jail and/or up to a $1,000 fine or less. Misdemeanors include offenses such as: petty theft, prostitution, public intoxication, assault, etc. Both criminal offenses have similar objectives for each criminal case, however they are very different in terms of punishment and severity.

Less restrictive drug laws would lower the population of prisons. Courts deal with a high amount cases due to drugs. According to Goldberg (2012), the criminal justice system is becoming ineffective because of the high amounts of drug cases which, is overburdening the system. This means that there are too many cases that are being processed through the system, which creates an issue of overcrowding in prisons. The mandatory minimum laws create a burden for the system because all of the cases have to be processes creating an ineffective system. According to Nutt, King, and Nichols (2013), there are extreme legal consequences for drug possession. Less restrictive laws would help alleviate the burden on the system. By having less restrictive laws the amount of cases would drop greatly and then the system would be more effective than it is right now.

Sentencing for drug offenders can be somewhat lenient or harsh depending upon what drug was involved in the arrest and who the violator is; meaning if the violator is an adult or a juvenile. In Crime state rankings 2010: Crime across America, the percent of the population who are illicit drugs users for Virginia was 8.2%, ranking twenty-fourth on that list and the national percent was 8.1% of the population in 2007 (Morgan, K. O. L., Morgan, S., & Santos, R. B. 2010). In Crime state rankings 2011: Crime across America, the percent of the population who are illicit drug users for Virginia was 7.3%, ranking thirty-two on that list and the national percent was 8.0% of the population in 2008 (Morgan, K. O. L., Morgan, S., & Boba, R. 2011).

Crime is defined as any behavior that is punishable by a fine, a prison or jail sentence or in some cases both. There are two types of crime. The first type is a felony; the standard definition of a felony is any crime that is punishable by more than one year in prison or by death. The most common felonies are murder, robbery, treason, rape and kidnapping. The second type of crime is known as a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor is usually a less serious crime and is generally punishable by a fine and/ or incarceration in a county jail for up to one year. The most common misdemeanor crimes

The length of punishment varies according to the type of felony. However, both the Federal Government and most States classify felonies as crimes that carry incarceration for a minimum of 12 months. For felonies like murder, the punishment may be a death penalty.

Crimes are frequently classified according to their seriousness as felonies or misdemeanors. Generally, felonies are more serious than misdemeanors. Under the federal criminal law system, felonies are crimes for which the punishment is death or imprisonment for more than a year. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for less than a year. In most states persons convicted of felonies are sent to state prisons, while those guilty of misdemeanors serve their sentence in city, or county jails, or correction houses.

There is also a false narrative that Americans will suddenly lose their ambition and lust for consumerism if we end the drug war. Remember, cocaine and heroin were sold over the counter for many decades, yet economists weren’t the ones demanding to outlaw those drugs. Whereas, the criminal justice system, in contrast, hurts the economy more than any “lazy stoner.” It is difficult to quantify the indirect economic consequences of the drug war. Yet, there is a misconception that the punishment for illegal drugs, in particular marijuana, is no longer oppressive. Yes, most states no longer punish people with over twenty years in prison for simple marijuana possession. Now, the penalty for simple possession, in most states, is generally less than a year in jail and/or a fine. However, that is a harsh punishment for the average working class person with few powerful contacts in the business world. There are also fees associated with lawyers, court costs, probation, mandatory drug testing and drug treatment, etc. For people on the fringe of society, these types of consequences, in many cases, push them into a life of crime.