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Impact Of America's Overcrowded Prison Crisis And War On Drugs Involvement

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America's Overcrowded Prison Crisis And War On Drugs Involvement. Should we lower mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenses?The reason for this is that we should prioritize the space in the prisons for real dangerous people. This question really arose during the forefront of the War on drugs crisis. “The proliferation of mandatory minimum sentences during the height of the War on Drugs” ("The hidden costs of America's war on drugs."by Joseph D. McNamara) was the effect of The Violent Crime Control and Safe Streets Act Of 1968. This bill grants the expansion of prisons and makes mandatory minimum sentences enforced. There were also “truth in sentencing”.( “Race, Mass Incarceration, and the Disastrous War on Drugs.” by
Cohen, Andrew) …show more content…

Because ”Millions of people are snatched up every year by the criminal justice system for nonviolent drug crimes.” ("Take Drugs Out of Drug Policy." by Tessie Castillo) which is crowding up the prison system,The drug policies can be said that ” Drug policy reform is not about drugs. It's about people. It's about how we treat each other. It's about granting the freedom to decide what to put into our bodies.”("Take Drugs Out of Drug Policy." by Tessie Castillo) It can also be said the people who go to prison on drug charges usually reoffend if they don't receive any form of …show more content…

So the question is, What effects does the police quota system Have on overpopulated prisons? While during the war on drugs there were a lot of doctors getting arrested for prescribing drugs to patients that said they were in pain. This even lets “Law enforcement authorities may also ask patients who are disgruntled or have been apprehended for illegally possessing or trafficking in drugs to complain of chronic pain, in attempts to get physicians to prescribe drugs in quantities or a manner deemed to be criminal by the authorities.” ("The hidden costs of America's war on drugs."by Joseph D. McNamara) From there on the arrests of drug users skyrocketed, that even “The number of arrests made by American law enforcement officers in that year for drug abuse violations was 1,702,527 (12% of all arrests)” ("The hidden costs of America's war on drugs."by Joseph D. McNamara) . The police quota system did not help any because the system tells that police need to give out so many citations or make arrests every month. So the police were made to go and arrest drug users and alot of them were from minorities because of how War on drugs was targeted towards those communities. Because the prisons are overcrowded they are having to release these types of people who could be dangerous to the communities. If no change happens then these nonviolent offenders will

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