The Conflict Theory Of The Civil War On Drugs

The purpose of this study is to expose the process of mass incarceration of poor black males, and females increasingly, within the context of a fabricated war on drugs which really is serving to keep the prison population booming by exploiting traditionally disadvantaged minorities in society. Alexander rightfully calls this a ?redesign? of the old racial caste system in America which was supposed to have been destroyed by the civil rights movement. The war on drugs in the 80s merely became the newest vehicle by which to exploit the black community in this country. The War on Drugs is really the rationale for racial control, which targets black men and women and relegates millions of citizens to what Alexander calls a ?second class status (Alexander, 2012).?

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.

In the past forty years, the United States has spent over $2.5 trillion dollars funding enforcement and prevention in the fight against drug use in America (Suddath). Despite the efforts made towards cracking down on drug smugglers, growers, and suppliers, statistics show that addiction rates have remained unchanged and the number of people using illegal drugs is increasing daily (Sledge). Regardless of attempts to stem the supply of drugs, the measure and quality of drugs goes up while the price goes down (Koebler). Now with the world’s highest incarceration rates and greatest illegal drug consumption (Sledge), the United States proves that the “war on drugs” is a war that is not being won.

In the book The New Jim Crow author Michelle Alexander argues that a racial caste system still exists in the United States. Furthermore, this caste system is set up by the social control that is created by the discriminatory practices of the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs and mass incarcerations create a racial “undercaste” of African-Americans, by marginalizing ex-offenders in America. Within her arguments she describes the racist practices of, and policies surrounding, the War on Drugs. These extend from the police force on the ground, who are apprehending the criminals or, in many cases, innocent people, all the way to the practices of prosecuting and sentencing of these people. There are many instances where the injustices extend all the way to the Supreme Court. However, that may not be surprising given the fact that the War on Drugs is a federal government institution. This racism, while inherent, is not always apparent. In this paper I will assess the broken practices that the War on Drugs implements, including mass incarceration, and how racism is the basis for these practices. However, while it does show that racism does exist in these practices, Alexander doesn’t necessarily show that racism is the reason behind the War on Drugs and mass incarceration, but rather a by-product.

Social conflict between African-Americans and the government is nothing new. The theory of social conflict states that the more powerful groups in society use their power to exploit those groups with less power. In this case, the United States government would be the powerful group, exploiting less powerful African-Americans. The war on drugs is best known for its drastic increases in mandatory sentencing, specifically on offenses relating to crack cocaine, something that was known to be prominent in inner city communities because of its low cost. With the government’s implementation of these harsh sentences, many African-Americans found with paraphernalia or tiny amounts of crack cocaine were jailed for a minimum of 5 years, with charges of distribution ranging from 10 year sentences to life imprisonment. This disparity can easily be seen by the difference between crack and powdered cocaine’s sentencing laws, with cocaine carrying exponentially lower jail time, mostly because it was more expensive and those using it at the time were predominantly wealthier Whites. The

Statistics have shown that three out of every four black men are expected to be imprisoned at least once in their lifetime, normally associated with the usage, selling, and or handling of drugs (Kerby, 2012). Regardless of the evidence that shows that all races are equally susceptible and apart from the drug epidemic, African Americans have been number one in charts. In the article “The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste”, Michelle Alexander discusses how to this day African-Americans remain as the most prominent target of America. Alexander acknowledges how the rising drug war has labeled African Americans as “Bad Guys”. Alexander’s mission is to expose the racism in America and its influence

In her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, legal scholar Michelle Alexander presents readers with a harsh reality—that the Civil Rights-era achievements for black Americans have fallen in the age of mass incarnation. Alexander skillfully argues through a grounding of research and personal experience advocating for civil rights that the racial caste system, which began with slavery and was transformed in the Jim Crow era, has reared its ugly head again via the “war on drugs” and the prison system. She establishes a history of discrimination against Americans of color, and then poses the current unjust legal system and its repercussions for those in its grasp as the generator for a new wave of citizens living

In the first chapter of “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, “the Rebirth of Caste,” Alexander outlines the history of racial social control in America by a caste system based entirely of race. Slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration are the forms that have existed in this system built on caste. Alexander’s argument and her main idea is to write out how these forms were deliberately made and how the caste system continues to attain its aims of segregation in the present forms of incarceration. For the rest of the chapter Alexander expresses how factors such as economic collapses of low-income cities, racial prejudices, a large budget increase for drug vs. law enforcement, and an attack by media to convince the public on the reality of the drug war, incarcerated African American men. This paper will present a rhetorical analysis of chapter 1 and some of the introduction for further background.

The current policy in use by the United States concerning illegal drugs is both outdated and unfair. This so-called war on drugs is a deeply rooted campaign of prohibition and unfair sentencing that is very controversial and has been debated for many years. The war on drugs is designed so that it will never end. This current drug was has very little impact on the overall supply of prohibited drugs and its impact on demand seems non-existent. United States’ taxpayers are spending billions of dollars on this failure of policy. They are spending billions to incarcerate drug users instead offering drug treatment which could help lower demand. Legalizing illicit would lower abuse and deaths from use and could have a positive economic impact on the United States. Certain industries are making massive sums of money by capitalizing on the drug war.

In the mid to late 20th Century, the United States has experienced several states of Cultural Revolution. The Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, the anti-War Movement during the Vietnam era, and the increasing presence of a widespread, politically active and highly vocalized youth counterculture led the United States government to feel that maybe, they were losing control of their population. The white, upper class men, who for centuries had dominated the political realm, began to feel their grip on power falter. By targeting drug use, the government would be free to "deal" with minorities especially African Americans, Hispanics, the free-love generation, and left-wing "radicals," all while claiming that they were protecting

Starting in 1914 the U.S introduced the first probation acts that prohibited the consumption of Opiates and Cocaine with the Harrison Narcotics act of 1914 Later this act was amended to include marijuana. This Act was the first use of federal criminal law in the United Sates to attempt to deal with the nonmedical use of drugs (wisegeek). The war of drugs started primarily in the 1971 when Nixon declared the war on drugs. He dramatically increased the size and presence of federal drug control agencies (Drug Policy). With the first major organized drug imports from Columbia from the Black Tuna Gang based in Miami, Florida Columbia was quickly growing into a drug superpower able to feed America’s growing addictions.

In 2009 1,663,582 people were arrested for non-violent drug charges. These people’s lives are now forever changed because of a mistake they made. This mistake is continually made every single day and Americans are being punished in extreme ways for a non violent crime. The United States needs to decimalize all drugs because the drug war is costly, causes high incarceration rates, and isn’t effective as European drug solutions.

Many people in the United States believe that there is full equality in this country between races but they do not realize what some African American’s still go through today. An enormous number of African Americans cannot vote because a felon cannot vote. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans have served time in prison as a result of drug convictions and are branded felons for life. Voting is also barred for those currently incarcerated. Alexander uncovers the system of mass incarceration: a system comprised of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control criminals both in and out of prison. The greatest instigator of mass incarceration is the War on Drugs. Rather than combat drug activity, the War on Drugs has served as a deliberate strategy to control people of color and remove them from the political process, which is racist in both application and design. Alexander suggests that the War on Drugs and mass incarceration constitute a "rebirth of caste" in America. Beginning with slavery and continuing with Jim Crow segregation, mass

When I first had any thoughts about the war on drugs I believed that this issue had nearly been completely eradicated due to the tireless efforts of law enforcement. One of my preconceived ideas was that the individuals involved in this trade lacked any autonomy of what they were doing to their societies. But one thing that I never doubted was that those in charge of these drug-dealings were cunning and calculated people. Through applying various sociological concepts such as; the influence of race, ethnicity, bureaucracies, among other sociological ideas one can see that there is more to the war on drugs than people selling narcotics and people buying narcotics. An important sociological term to familiarize oneself with to understand this

The conflict theory “states that tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power are unevenly distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become the engine for social change” (Crossman, 20017). This change is viewed as a positive