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The United States is only 5 percent of the world’s population but maintains a fourth of the world’s prisoners. Two million, three hundred thousand Americans are currently behind bars, the largest number, per capita, of any country. Although the majority of prisoners were sentenced for violent crime, half-a-million Americans were convicted of non-violent drug offenses related to the War on Drugs.[ref] Gilad Eldman, “The Real Answer to Mass Incarceration,” The New Yorker, July 17, 2015.[/ref] The Federal government spends $15 billion a year on the War on Drugs, while state and local governments spend an additional $25 billion annually. [ref]Aimee Picchi, “The High Price of Incarceration in America $80 Billion,” CBSNews, May 8, 2014.[/ref] The nation spends $80 billion annually on prisons, including government contracts to For-Profit prisons. The vendetta is how to deal with non-violent drug offenders and ending mass incarceration while modifying America’s drug policy.
President Nixon initiated the War on Drugs in 1971 as a response to the Baby Boomers’ counter-culture. By the early 1980s, drug use was steadily declining, but about fifty thousand Americans were in prison for non-violent drug use.[ref]”A Brief History of the Drug War,” Sept. 26, 2015.[/ref] The Reagan Administration escalated the War on Drugs in response to increasing fear about the introduction of crack-cocaine. At that time, drug use increased and four hundred thousand Americans were imprisoned for nonviolent drug crimes by the mid-nineties. President Clinton again escalated the Drug War further by establishing minimum sentencing for possession of a drug over a certain amount. This has caused the crime rate to fall to its lowest level since the 1950s, but judges lost any discretion in sentencing. An example is that possessing one-gram of LSD or one hundred grams of heroin result in the same five-year sentence. The result of this policy is that nonviolent criminals remain in prison longer, increasing the cost to our prison system and prolonging their time away from everyday life.[ref]”What Are Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Laws?” Attorneys.com,Sept. 26, 2015.[/ref] Furthermore, Americans of color are disproportionately affected. White and black Americans use drugs at the same proportional rate, but black men are ten times more likely to go to prison for a nonviolent drug crime as a white man.[ref] “Criminal Justice Fact Sheet,” Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, Sept. 26, 2015.[/ref] The Drug War is a significant reason why one out of three black men can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime.
Dismantling America’s system of Mass Incarceration will be a long slow process, requiring policies to address different aspects of the problem. A fourth of the over two million Americans behind bars were convicted on nonviolent drug charges, so addressing this group first before turning our attention to violent criminals makes sense. A first step would be to end the War on Drugs. Since its inception in 1971, the Drug War has cost taxpayers over a trillion dollars. The result of this policy has been the imprisonment of millions of Americans and drug use is still common, so the Drug War has failed. Sending someone to federal prison will damage his professional and personal life and ultimately the lives of his family members. The federal government needs to decriminalize personal drug use while manufacturing and selling drugs can remain a federal crime. Narcotics and manufactured drugs should remain illegal, although the punishment for possession should be a fine or possible mandatory drug rehabilitation instead of serving time in a federal prison. The legality of marijuana should be determined by the states on an individual basis.
Putting these policies in place will reduce the number of prisoners in the long-term, but it will not aid the people already in prison. The United States should, in a responsible manner, release nonviolent criminals on the basis of good behavior. This should be done in a gradual process, because releasing hundreds of thousand of people from prison simultaneously will disrupt society. Upon release, these individuals would be required to check in with parole officers until it is judged that they are well adjusted back into society.
Even after being released from prison, these individuals would face a number of obstacles. One of these is that anyone convicted of a federal crime is denied the opportunity to vote.[ref]Cox, Robynn, “Where Do We Go from Here? Mass Incarceration and the Struggle for Civil Rights,” Economic Policy Institute, Jan. 16, 2015.[/ref] As a result, over five million Americans are denied this basic American right. Reversing this policy, at least for those convicted for a nonviolent offense, would correct this injustice. A larger problem would be to repair the professional lives of these individuals. A key aspect of Mass Incarceration is that anyone convicted of a federal crime must report this on his or her resume. This makes it extremely difficult to find a job after being released from prison, and commonly results in a return to jail. [ref]Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Mapping the New Jim Crow,” The Atlantic, Oct. 17 2014.[/ref] In order to be fair to employers, the acknowledgment of having served time in federal prison should remain on resumes, but an additional label explaining that the government no longer considers a nonviolent drug offense to be a serious crime would help these individuals move on with their lives. Finally, a short-term program should be established, using the money that had previously gone to the Drug War, to help the ex-prisoners find jobs.
Critics of the Drug War claim it to be the successor to Jim Crow and the latest attempt to control the African-American community by the United States. Given that the people who are imprisoned for a nonviolent drug offense did commit a federal crime, it is unfair to claim Mass Incarceration as equivalent to slavery or segregation. However, this system has shattered professional lives, separated families, and denied American minorities the opportunity to fulfill their potential. These are among the reasons why the United States must restore its title as the “land of the free” and address this critical issue.
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