Mass Incarceration Research Paper

The war on drugs was launched as an effort to prevent and reduce substance abuse and addiction. Exclusively, focusing on white, middle-class children, and possibly demonizing others, particularly minorities. Nevertheless, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America campaign used a different approach. This campaign “utilized volunteer talent working together against a single social problem to help young people live free of drug and alcohol abuse, and to assist parents in prevention efforts. The organization gets input from scientists, therapist, community activist, researchers, law enforcement, and offers resources for parents and teenagers.”

Most people in the United States each year go the prison and keep there for non-violent crime, such as drug related offenses. This issue has affected many family’s life for many years and caused the prisoners to deprive from many of their rights. Lacking the appropriate policies for keeping drug related offenses in prison has been a public health crisis and created a new addiction, like penchant for locking people up in prison. The author in this article “prison addiction: why mass incarceration policies must change.” discusses about lacking the appropriate policies for incarceration for non-violent drug related offenses.

One theory that can explain the topic of Mass Incarceration is that people are being sent to jail more and more for a longer period of time. Also, there is an obvious and high rate imprisonment within the community of color. For many years we have been told that the number one reason for increasing rates of incarceration is due to the war on drugs but in recent years we are learning through statistics that it not just drugs. Legislating has passed many new and tougher sentencing laws over the past 35 years. To explain prison growth, in state prisons 90 percent of prisoners only about 17 percent of incarcerated are due to drug offenses.

"With over a 100 people in the United States becoming infected with HIV, HCV, or HBV every day as a result of injection drug use”(Franciscus). Needle exchange programs were implanted for the purpose of reducing injection user’s risk of bloodborne diseases such as HIV, Hepatitis C and other sexually transmitted diseases. These programs “provide sterile needles in exchange for contaminated or used needles, increase access to sterile needles and to remove contaminated syringes from circulation in the community” (Vlahov 77). This program promotes a better outcome for these needle drug users. Although some argue that these types of programs are not being implanted to improve the community, but instead that they are promoting drug use by “feeding”

In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have

Bennet, A. S., Bell, A., Tomedi, L., Hulsey, E. G., & Kral, A. H. (2011). Characteristics of an overdose prevention, response, and nalaxone distribution program in Pitsburgh and Alleghany County, Pennsylvania. Journal of Urban Health , 88 (6), 1020-1030. Bennet, Bell, Tomedi, Hulsey, and Kral (2011) describe the experiences of participants in an Overdose Prevention Program (OPP). Their sample consisted of participants of a needle exchange program who volunteered to be part of this study.

Implementation of some of these proposals may require some economic input and also rely on political goodwill. The principles involved, however - integrity, honesty, ethics, morality, and lawfulness - apply to all cultures, even though they may not present in all cultures. These solutions cannot work without the support of the society as a whole. The shift from the previous zero tolerance that threw drug addicts to prison has softened. Growing number of people are recognizing the need for treating drug addiction as a disease and not a crime.

137) that emphasizes a personalized approach that centers on meeting the specific needs of the affected individual and their community. Harm reduction facilitates engagement and encourages consumers to interact with treatment providers while they are actively using substances and engaged in high-risk behaviors. Because helping marginalized populations “stay alive and healthy” (Tatarsky and Marlatt, 2010, p.118) is the foremost goal of the movement, offering low-threshold services is considered the foundation for subsequent therapeutic interventions at a point in time when the client is receptive to them. Marlatt, Larimar, and Witkiewitz (2012) have identified eight fundamental principles that characterize harm

Each year the United States Law Enforcement makes more than 1.5 million drug arrest which is more arrest than all violent crimes combined according to Drugpolicy.org. There are at least 133,000 people behind bars in U.S prisons and jails for drug possession and 63,000 of them are held pre-trial. Decreasing arrests for drug possession improves the relations of community police, it also increases the trust in law enforcement. " Law enforcement agencies in countries that have decriminalized drug possession have reportedly not been hampered in their investigations of large drug trafficking operations,83 and decriminalization does not seem to have impacted drug markets, drug seizures or crimes related to drug trafficking. "(Drug Policy)

Prescription drug use has been on the rise over the past several decades. Many young adults experiment with prescription drugs, often believing that this is a safer alternative to other illicit drugs. This assumption is false. Prescription drug use can rapidly develop into emotional and physical dependence as well as addiction. Second to marijuana prescription drugs are now the most common illicit drug used by young adults to get high.

The second supposition, the war on drugs being considered a failure, is a supposition that I agree with. I chose this supposition because I have always agreed that high penalties for drug charges is unfair and a social justice issue. However, I had never done much research regarding the issue. By choosing this supposition, I gave myself a chance to research the War on Drugs and the effects that it has had on individuals who suffer from substance dependence.

Reinforced by research evidence, reasonable arguments for supporting the current law on illegal drugs are rarely offered. The clearest arguments are religiously based or moral views that the use of particular drugs is immoral; that people who use those drugs are corrupt and consequently, drugs should be banned and manufacturers, suppliers and users should be treated as criminals. Adjustment to drug laws has been advocated by a number of individuals and reform groups, however opponents announce that such reduction of laws, involving decriminalization and legalization, will eliminate the preventive effect and increase drug use and release much larger drug-related concerns into the community. A reasoning for legalization is that it would significantly reduce or even abolish drug trade inside the black market and criminal networks. Other arguments involve focusing responses within health instead of the police and the criminal justice system.

It is no surprise that drugs have a huge impact in communities around the world. Drugs themselves bring problems that can last a lifetime, and the business of drugs is harsh and unforgiving. Also, drugs are addicting and can cause a person to keep going back to them, even if negative results are showing. That being said, communities that drugs are in are no doubt being affected by the situations and threats that occur because of drugs. My community is no exception.

Sanya Sethi Do the benefits of decriminalizing drugs outweigh the disadvantages? 2000 words Do the benefits of decriminalizing drugs outweigh the disadvantages? By Sanya Sethi Introduction ‘I’m a recovering drug addict and know that drug addiction is an illness, it’s a disease, so by criminalizing that you criminalize a huge percentage of the population. You malign them and stigmatize them, you generate more crime, you create a criminal culture, and speaking from the perspective of a sufferer it’s simply not helpful’.

One of the most societal issues in American society is the negative consequences of drug abuse that affect not only individuals who abuse drugs but also their families and friends. The obvious effects of drug abuse which manifested in the individuals who abuse drugs includes their health, sickness and death. Paying close attention to an abuser's health is contracting blood borne illnesses such as hepatitis and HIV/AIDS through injection drug use and the sharing of needles. Economically, the impact of drug abuse in businesses whose employees abuse drugs can also be significant. While many drug abusers are unable to attain or hold down employment.