The Development of a REAL Social Problem and CRISIS

 

“Penalties against possession of the drug should not be more

damaging than the drug itself”.

– President Carter

In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared that America was fighting a “war on drugs” after the popularization of drugs through the 1960s hippie subculture. 

In 1973, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), was created.

Despite later efforts by President Carter to decriminalize marijuana and lessen prison sentences for drug crimes, President Reagan pressed on in the 1980s to prosecute those addicted to, selling, or using drugs.

Regan believed “it’s far more effective if you take the customers away than if you try to take the drugs away from the customers”.  During this time, more and more Americans were being charged, convicted, and imprisoned for drug crimes.  While President Clinton did work to make some progressive strides in pushing for more rehabilitative programs, his efforts were mostly unsuccessful in the grand scheme of things.

According to Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow”, the United States prison population sky rocketed in the last thirty years from 300,000 to over 2 million thanks in large part to drug convictions.

Mass incarceration became a problem in the United States over the last 30 years because it is a direct result of the United States “war on drugs”. According to Alexander, Governments often use punishment as a means of social control.  The “war on drugs” was the United States’ vehicle for creating social control and the social problem of mass incarceration we are faced with today.

“The problem with jail is that people get meaner when you out them in jail”.

 – First grade student from Atlantic City, NJ

Mass incarceration is a crisis.

According to Michelle Alexander, “one in three young African American men will serve time in prison if these current trends continue”.  If mass incarceration was a disease reaching this many individuals, it would be considered an epidemic and there would be a large public outcry and demands for change.

However, unfortunately, the issue of mass incarceration is not being widely recognized as a crisis.  If even first grade students are aware of the prison system and what it does to individuals, while on a very basic scale, then it is known to the public that this is an issue.

Nevertheless, while mass incarceration is a legitimized issue that is widely recognized in many circles as a social problem and hits close to home for many Americans, it is not as large of a public issue as it should be and does not gain the recognition and it support that it should.  More Americans need to mobilize behind this cause, create a plan of action, and let Americans know that this is a crisis!

 

Sources:

Dufton, Emily. "The War on Drugs: How President Nixon Tied Addiction to Crime." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/the-war-on-drugs-how-president-nixon-tied-addiction-to-crime/254319/>.

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New, 2010. Print.

"The United States War on Drugs." The United States War on Drugs. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. <http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/paradox/htele.html>.