Drug Paper

Talonda Ndiaye

Corrections and Penology 350

April 4, 2014

How has convictions of drug offenses impacted the prison population in the United States?

There has been many issues raised about our failing prison systems. One topic that continues to rear its head is the “War on Drugs”. While determined to correct the wrongs of drug offenders, it has impacted our prison systems tremendously. Harsh and mandatory laws has led to harsh convictions to even harsher impacts on our prison populations in more ways than one. One major way the prisons’ has been impacted is the dangerously overcrowding of inmates.

Prison populations has increased almost 790 percent since 1980 causing severe overcrowding. According to Huffingtonpost.com over 50 percent of inmates in federal prison are for drug related offenses. The United States has jailed more people for drug related offenses that the European jails for all offenses. This has led to endangering the lives of the correctional officers as well as the criminals. Mandatory laws and mandatory minimum sentences have been deemed “irrational and wasteful.” While implementing these laws it really isn’t solving the “War on Drugs”. It is creating more of a headache for our economy.

Also in having mandatory laws, the cracking down on illegal drugs has caused a financial strain. It cost more to incarcerate and keep up the maintenance of prisoners and a waste of tax payers’ money. It has been a significant amount spent to combat the drug problem but it has little effect on demand, which has increased. It has been said that maybe money can be spent on therapeutic avenues to help drug users rather than institutionalizing them.

According to online article title: “Locked up in America” retrieved from www.pbs.org states “In trying to solve the issue of overcrowding, the FBI are looking to reconsider harsh prison terms for drug offenders. In recent movements the Obama Administration has made steps gearing towards sentencing reform as well....