ipl-logo

Essay On Mass Incarceration

861 Words4 Pages

Mass Incarceration In 1994, President Bill Clinton will sign a crime bill that would change and shape America’s prison system forever. The 1994 Crime Bill. Following this crime bill, the United States would eventually house 25% of the world’s prisoners while only housing 5% of the world’s population. Wow, right? These numbers are due to one of the most ignored, damaging problems in America: Mass Incarceration. In 1993, President Bill Clinton will take office in the white house after defeating republican candidate, and future president, George H.W. Bush. One of the main reasons why President Clinton was able to do so, was because he promised the nation that he would be “tough on crime.” This tactic of running for presidency under the regime of “tough on crime” had been used since the 1960’s. Presidents began running under the premise of “tough on crime” to assure American citizens that they would keep them safe from harm and danger. One of the main key points of this was drug use. Presidents, such as Nixon, would began to vilify and criminalize drug users in a way America had never …show more content…

Shortly after President Reagan declared a “War on Drugs”, crack-cocaine and guns were intentionally flooded into black communities by the American Government—CIA. Following in the steps of his predecessor, Reagan will vilify and criminalize these drugs addicts. Under the “War on Drugs”, much harsher sentences will be given to Americans caught with crack cocaine—mainly black Americans than those that were caught with the main ingredient cocaine—mainly white Americans. In fact, being caught in possession with 28 grams of crack-cocaine yields a mandatory minimum sentence of five years while it takes 500 grams of cocaine to be given the same sentence. Quite a difference. Reagan’s “War on Drugs” marked the start of mass incarceration and Clinton finished

Show More
Related

Brief Summary Confinement In John Howard's The State Of Prisons

1627 Words | 7 Pages

In 1989, a study published by James Austin and Aaron McVey in 1989 addressed all of the issues that the modern prison system faces today, such as overcrowding, aging prisoners, and the disproportionate number of minority inmates compared to their white cohorts (Austin and McVey, 1989). Seeing as how this study was published 9 years after the beginning of rising arrest rates, it appears that the issue was never taken seriously until it became a problem that could not be denied. What caused this massive shift in how crime and punishment were regarded? Pratt discussed the shifts in American viewpoints on the causes of crimes in the beginning of the 20th century and how those viewpoints influenced today’s policy and practice surrounding criminal

Read More

Social Injustice In The 13th

837 Words | 4 Pages

The War on Drugs was announced under President Nixon's term where he declared America's number one enemy to be drug abuse. Although Nixon claims the enemy was drug abuse, in a talk with a reporter from Harpers Magazine(1994) a Nixon Administration official admitted The War on Drugs was to throw blacks into jail “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

Read More

The War On Drugs In America Summary

999 Words | 4 Pages

The author argues that the war on drugs is nothing more than a series of laws aimed at maintaining the now-abolished segregation laws (Alexander, 25). The author insists on the facts that the war on drugs disproportionally targets African Americans compared to White Americans (Alexander, 28). The author makes her point by explaining the widely disproportionate number of African Americans that are incarcerated for drug-related offences compared to similar offences committed by white people (Alexander, 76). The strong idea presented in this book is that of a racial war that is disguised in a war on drugs (Alexander, 86). Since the definition of suspicion does not require a factual probable cause, police officers can search individuals simply because “they subjectively think the individual might be in possession of drugs”.

Read More

Rock And Roll In The 1980's

1754 Words | 8 Pages

In the early 1980's, President Reagan and Vice President Bush declared the war on drugs in America. Bush expressed that, addictive drugs sales had to stop because these drugs were "drowning" American citizens (Jordan Hanna). However, rock musicians continued doing drugs to have fun and to escape the reality. A drug that affected the most 1980’s were heroin and cocaine. Although heroin was more popular in the 1970’s, it was still the most popular and effective during 1980’s.

Read More

1980s Drug Enforcement History

609 Words | 3 Pages

This set off America’s most devastating drug epidemic yet. It was seen by many as the social problem of the decade. Whole communities were left overwhelmed and underprepared by the scope and horror of this drug. Crack appeared in these urban neighborhoods spreading addiction, crime and violence at alarming rates, which also caused law enforcement to be initially overwhelmed as

Read More

Essay On Mass Incarceration

1180 Words | 5 Pages

The United States carries more than 20% of the world’s incarcerated population, even though they are only 5% of the world’s population. The United States government spends billions of taxpayers’ dollars on maintaining prisons and filling them up with people to meet their requirements. The War on Drugs was the cause for 58% of prisoners to be in there for non-violent drug offenses and most of these prisoners were Black and Brown people (Craig Gilmore, 18). Although there were prisons being built, crime was declining in the ‘80s so government officials had to create new laws to get new criminals. The shift in discourse and laws created, allowed for more policing and an increase in arrest rates and led to the problem of mass

Read More

Drug Trafficking Proposal Essay

491 Words | 2 Pages

Andrea Garcia Govt 2306-21002 Professor MacArthur November 20, 2017 Proposal Throughout history people have been making and distributing drugs all over the world. North America in particular has been in an ongoing war with drugs for around 45 years. The United States interdiction policy first emphasized border enforcement starting with Nixon in 1971 and his "war on drugs" idea. Nixon's legacy was to shift attention abroad, focusing on drug policy as a piece of U.S. foreign policy.

Read More

Essay On Mass Incarceration

440 Words | 2 Pages

In the Time Magazine article titled “39% of Prisoners Should Not Be in Prison” written by Lauren-Brooke Eisen and Inimai Chettiar, they examine the issue of mass incarceration and give two practical solutions that they believe could work. The issue of mass incarceration is the greatest racial and ethical issue in the U.S. Many people are put in prison for a sustainable amount of time for non-violent crimes. With Trump’s campaign being focus on being tough on crime, there is some uncertainty on how the issue of mass incarceration will be seen from Republicans and nationwide. Previously there has been trans partisan agreement that the issue of mass incarceration need to be address.

Read More

Explain Why We Need To End The War On Drugs

1016 Words | 5 Pages

Between the 1970’s and 1980’s the annual rate for drug related deaths was 2 people for every 100,000 in the U.S. But in the 1990’s it started to increase. By 2000 it rose to 4 deaths for every 100,000 and by 2006 it rose to 9 deaths for every 100,000 . Nixon’s War on drugs was not effective, in fact the war had the opposite

Read More

Long Term Consequences Of The War On Drugs

1835 Words | 8 Pages

On June 17, 1971, Richard Nixon and the federal government of the United States issued a campaign called the War on Drugs. It was intended as a way to reduce the drug usage in America. Their methods included the “Just Say No” campaign, raids on multiple ghettos and low-income areas, and laws that were made to severely punish drug users. The outcomes of the War on Drugs were a waste of billions of government money, a new opioid epidemic, and massive amounts of Black Americans incarcerated. All in all, it was a total failure, leaving a stain on American history.

Read More

Anti Drug Abuse Act Of 1986 Essay

916 Words | 4 Pages

One of the reasons for the overpopulation of Blacks in America’s criminal justice system is because of the different sentencing laws between powder cocaine and crack cocaine. The United

Read More

Drug Enforcement And Punishment Approach

946 Words | 4 Pages

Nixon’s words quickly resulted in action. Budgets were cut from prevention and treatment programs while drug enforcement budgets increased rapidly. This policy shift to combat the drug epidemic set the stage for the modern “War on Drugs”. A new federal law enforcement agency was born in 1972, called the Office of Drug Abuse and Enforcement. This new government agency was filled with controversy from the beginning, because of its broad enforcement capabilities.

Read More

Essay On Incarceration

555 Words | 3 Pages

As a result of the war on drugs, our prison population and overall cost of incarceration has increased exponentially. Nancy Reagan, former first lady and widow of President Ronald Reagan, advocated for the “Just Say No Campaign”, treating drug use as a criminal offense rather than a health issue. After Richard Nixon officially launched the drug war in 1971, the amount of incarcerated within the United States multiplied from “50,000 in 1980 to over 400,000 by 1997” (A Brief History of the Drug War). People began to become full time prisoners due to small criminal offenses, such as possession of a small quantity of drugs. The exponential growth of the amount of inmates also means and exponential growth in the amount of money being spent on prisons amongst other programs.

Read More

Persuasive Essay On War On Drugs

1076 Words | 5 Pages

Drugs have been around this earth for many years. Production, disruptions, and consumption have gone hand and hand together. Due to the high rise of consumers causing death, addiction, and drug-related crimes led to this "War on Drugs" to be declared by President Nixon in 1971. The war on drugs was a government tactic to decrease drug abuse and drug-related crimes, yet led to severely punishable sentencing if convicted of possession, selling, trafficking, or disrupting. This led to the convictions of any drug-related crime increasing tremendously not only in color communities but anyone.

Read More

War On Drugs Legislation

1087 Words | 5 Pages

In short, the War on Drugs Legislation not only did not work it amplified the problem. Rather than seeking a solution to the setback and trying to reform drug criminalization, Congress continues to suppress the minorities. Drugs continue to be hard on society and cause both economical and societal problems. In an attempt to stop addiction, Nixon and Regan only fueled it. Addiction needs to be addressed in a therapeutic manner by seeking solutions to the trauma behind the use.

Read More

More about Essay On Mass Incarceration

Open Document