Our Criminal Justice System Has Undoubtedly Failed To Effectively

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.

For many years, a real push has been looming on the idea of legalizing now illegal drugs. This has become a hot debate throughout nations all over the world, from all walks of life. The dispute over the idea of decriminalizing illegal drugs is and will continue on as an ongoing conflict. In 2001, Drug decriminalization in all drugs, including cocaine and heroin, became a nationwide law in Portugal (Greenwald). Ethan Nadelman, essayist of “Think again: Drugs,” states his side of the story on the continuing criminalization of hard drugs, in which he stand to oppose. Whether it is for the good of human rights or not, decriminalizing drugs may be a good head start for a new beginning.

More than 45 years ago President Richard Nixon announced and declared the nation is at war, that war was the "War on Drugs". Nancy Reagan campaigned heavily in the fight against drug use as well; her fight was that of teaching young children the slogan of “Just Say No”. The goals of the criminal justice system in the war on drugs have been a never ending fight against the sale of illicit drugs and that of combating drug abuse. We will discuss the increased resources spent on law enforcement and rehabilitation while making an attempt in understanding

The use of illegal drugs is most often perceived by society as purely negative. As in, individuals who partake in the illegal activity and are caught deserve to be punished and serve their time in jail. Now, this solution may aid in keeping criminals away from society for the time they are serving but it does not help dramatically reduce the likelihood that these individuals will relapse into their drug addiction once they are out. Drug and substance abuse should be perceived as public health and safety crisis rather than a moral dilemma. Therefore, the criminal justice system needs to implement a treatment program that goes along with a drug user’s jail time to increase the chances that they will become actual functioning and contributing members of society.

The re were no legal constraints on the importation or use of opium in the United States until the early 1900s. So prolific was the availability these elixirs and so-called “snake oil” cures that in 1900 it was estimated that 3.3 million doses of opium a month were being sold in the state of Vermont (Inciardi, 1990).  At the turn of the twentieth century, a number of factors were contributing to a growing drug abuse problem in America. Primarily there was the unrestricted availability of opium and the recent invention of the hypodermic needle. However, two additional drugs would prove to be an unsettling concern that were about to explode in American culture.

Available research in the Critical criminal justice issues: Task force reports, shows that the crime associated with drugs has not diminished despite increasingly punitive local, State, and Federal Government interventions and social control (1996). On the contrary, these social issues have shown an increase in the midst of an increasing and costly “war on drugs”. It is obvious that the current correctional system is not correcting anything. The rising number of incarcerated and recidivism does not show that incarceration alone lowers the crime rate. Many of those in jail doing terms could have been handled in other methods over incarceration. A large portion of the population imprisoned is there because they had committed a low-level crime. How can the seriousness of drug abuse warrant a reliance on incarceration as a solution knowing the social significance of incarceration? This paper will address offenders who are convicted of low-level crimes connected to drug abuse, the social implications of the social problem, research data showing the individual and social implications, how society has responded; and the outcome from those responses, a discussion of alternative responses to the problem, and the effectiveness of those alternatives.

There needs to be a change in the criminal justice system. Convicted felons who are charged with any drug felony should not be put into jail or prison because it doesn’t help solve the problem. Rudy Haapanen states, “It is now generally agreed that the criminal justice system fails to rehabilitate offenders, to make them less likely to commit criminal acts as a result of treatment or training; that the system fails to deter potential offenders, to make then less likely to commit criminal acts out of fear of penal sanctions”. In this paper I will discuss drug use in the population, drug dealers, drugs and regulations. I will discuss drug use in the population so that you will see

During the year 1960, only four million Americans had ever tried illegal narcotics; today that number has risen to 74 million (DEAMuseum). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) concluded that over the past thirty days, more than 20 million Americans over the age of twelve have used illegal drugs (NCADD). As one of the top health-related problems facing the nation today, the prevalence of drug abuse in society strains the economy, health care system, criminal justice system, and poses a major threat to public safety. This is because once they are hooked on a particular drug; addicts will do whatever it takes to come into possession of more of it. To illustrate that point, a 2004 study conducted by the Department of Justice (DoJ)

Starting in the 1970s, the Netherlands left on an even minded damage diminishment way to deal with medications that has brought about a framework in which need is given to social insurance and counteractive action while, at the same time, solid authorization measures are coordinated against sorted out wrongdoing. The Netherlands’ experience with drugs in the 19th century was in some ways unique. Although it was certainly not a drug-free nation, it differed from the United States and other Western European nations in that it did not have the problem of addicted soldiers and there was little scientific research or public concern regarding addiction. Two key factors shaped the evolution of the Dutch policy on drugs during this period: the development of the modern medical profession, and the immense profitability of Dutch colonial drug operations (Benjamin, Dolin, 2001). By the early 20th century, the Netherlands was the world’s largest cocaine producer; huge profits were made first from opium leases – the practice by which the government leased the right to sell opium to local colonial populations – and then later via state monopoly on the sale of opium (Benjamin, Dolin, 2001). The Dutch government established a Working Party on Drugs, which came to be known as the Baan Commission. Its recommendations largely determined the course of the Netherlands’ drug policy and resulted in an overhaul of the Opium Act in 1976

Drugs have been abused for various reasons and have been a rolling factor in every corner of the globe. Alcoholism as well as marijuana and a couple of other illicit drugs have plagued America throughout history. Opium, a narcotic drug which is also known as the “plant of joy” was used 4,000 years ago; sales of cocaine and heroin solutions to the British royal family were recorded from around 1900 – 1920, and records from the year of 1912 indicate that a cocaine solution was sold to Winston Churchill (Siegel, 2010, p. 366). “Prior to the 1800 's… most societies used drugs for medicinal or religious purposes”

From the arguments presented it is apparent that the criminal justice system is far from effective when it comes to tackling illegal drug use. The normalisation of illegal drug use in today's society makes it difficult for authorities to restrict the availability and use of drugs, epically for recreational purposes. The criminal justice system, despite its best efforts, cannot keep up with the fast growing drug markets and its regulatory polices do not function as an effective deterrent. So in effect we have to question the real purpose of such policies? Without restating the points above, one cannot deny that public officials use drug policies to issue harsher sanctions on those from BME communities; this is unacceptable because it goes a

The most interesting aspect to this article is the relationship it has with race being tied into drug regulation because it expresses the shift of combating drugs as threat to everyone, not just targeting a specific race in modern day. Also, the idea that the author believed that harm reduction was the best way to combat the current epidemic shows that there is multiple views to tackle drug regulation. Overall, seeing a article written last month have ties to this class was an interesting experience, as it shows that drugs are still a problem in society

Since the early 1960’s there have been an alarming increase in drug use in the United States in 1962, four million Americans had tried an illegal drug. By 1999, that number had risen to a staggering 88.7 million, according to the 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Drug legalization is an enduring question that presently faces our scholars. This issue embraces two positions: drugs should not be legalized and drugs should be legalized. These two positions contain an array of angles that supports each issue. This brief of the issues enables one to consider the strengths and weakness of each argument, become aware of the grounds of disagreement and agreement and ultimately form an opinion based upon the positions stated within the articles. In the article “Against the Legalization of Drugs”, by James Q. Wilson, the current status of drugs is supported. Wilson believes if a drug such as heroin were legalized there would be no financial or medical reason to avoid heroin usage;

A multibillion dollar industry, with a consumer population of about 125 to 203 million people; the drug industry affects lives of all racial, ethnic, economic , social background, including participants in the drug industry, addicts, teenagers, parents, families, and officers of the law. Many people have encountered an experience with drugs and or drug education; the shared experience regarding the discussion of this topic or illegal experience brings importance to this current issue and validates the proposal for change. How much change, what change and how long will the change take place. Although this issue has many perspectives and opinions on how the war on drugs could be “won”, I will focus on two perspectives: drug criminalization and drug legalization. In a Human Rights lens, I will discuss the limitations and strengths of both methods. In the opinion of some and with hindsight the status quo regarding drugs requires reform in order to reverse the unintended consequences of drug prohibition. In the opinion of others criminalizing participants in the drug trade should be penalized under the law.