Sunday, July 20, 2014
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| Source: Chicagocriminallawyer.com |
In the past 30 years since the “war on drugs” began and the harsh sentencing imposed on non-violent drug offenders was enacted, the prison population has exploded. The rate of drug abuse and addiction has not improved despite the continued effort to make the problem go away by arresting and imprisoning as many drug users as our prisons can hold.
Recent data from the U.S. Department
of Justice indicates that more than half of the prison population is serving
time for drug related offenses. Taxpayers spend billions of dollars a year on
prison systems that are overcrowded and serve as a breeding ground for thugs
and gangs. Many people that enter the prison system become more harmful to
society than before they entered. The CRC Health Group, a drug treatment
center, wrote that “statistics reveal many addictions usually grow in prison.
With no treatment available and drugs easily obtained, how can we expect our
prison population to achieve or maintain sobriety?”[1]
Society can no longer
pretend that overcrowded prisons that lack rehabilitation services are the
answer to nonviolent drug offenses. It is
time to admit that drug use cannot be controlled by punishment. Most drug
crimes are committed by addicts, which are people who are self-medicating for
depression or suffering from a mental illness. Others are just unlucky people
making the wrong choice, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time.
I don’t support the use of
illegal drugs, but it seems ridiculous to put someone in prison for selling a
few pain pills to a friend or be sentenced to life in prison for non-violent
marijuana offenses. Prisons should return to their primary role of
incarcerating violent criminals who commit murder, robbery, rape, assault, and
child molestation
I believe treatment,
rehabilitation and probation services are the key to dealing with non-violent
drug offenses. The State of Texas has been successfully following this
philosophy since 2007 when they rejected a proposal to build eight prisons, but
instead shifted non-violent drug offenders into alternative treatment programs.
Since then, the State of Texas has saved nearly $2 billion dollars and the
incarceration rate has dropped by nearly 20%.[2]
A recent poll conducted by
Pew Research Center reports that the attitudes of Americans towards drug
related crimes may be shifting towards this philosophy as well. Two thirds of Americans polled would like to
see illegal drug offenders enter programs that focus on treatment and
rehabilitation rather than incarceration.[3]
As part of this evolving
change in public opinion, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted in April of this
year to lower the federal drug sentencing guidelines. This will go into effect
on November 1st as long as Congress doesn’t take action to stop this
amendment. On Friday, July 18th
the Commission voted to retroactively apply this amendment in order to shorten
sentences for tens of thousands of people who are currently serving prison time
for drug offenses. This will eventually lead to a broader effort to adapt the
federal policy to change laws and put an end to marijuana prohibition and
consequences of a drug conviction at the state level. Now this is change I can
believe in!
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