Mass Incarceration in the United States: Fixing the War on Drugs

Executive Summary

The United States is currently home to the highest prison population in the world and by exploring the causes and effects of mass incarceration, several underlying issues are exposed. When a war on drugs was declared by politicians in the 1980s, a stark rise in prison population arose immediately after. Harsher sentencing reforms became the new norm as a direct result of this war’s new policies. However, statistics will prove the lack of effectiveness at deterring or preventing crime that the new sanctions of the war included. Billions of dollars have been spent in the fight against drugs, resulting only in millions of Americans overpopulating prisons. Although the law enforcement policies of the war were decades ago, several detrimental effects have occurred. Social, economic, racial and discriminatory issues have resulted from the current justice system’s implications. All of the noted issues have continued to scar society’s moral nature.

FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) has proposed a bill titled, the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 with appropriate resolutions to reduce the number of people currently incarcerated, and correct the societal issues caused by the justice system. The act includes four steps that will, “reduce prison costs and populations by creating fairer, less costly minimum terms for nonviolent drug offenders” (FAMM, 2015). This paper urges the support of a leader in the fight for civil justice in that of Trent Franks, who currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee where he is Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. With Congressman Frank’s support of the Smarter Sentencing Act, the bill’s chances of getting accepted will greatly improve. In the effort to build a brighter future for our youth, and defending the nation’s civil liberties, no other issue deserves more urgent attention than the justice of millions of Americans incarcerated in America.

Mass Incarceration in the United States: Fixing the War on Drugs

A Failed War on Drugs

The United States, known as the land of the free, houses the largest prison population on the planet. “Though only five percent of the world’s population lives in the United States, it is home to 25 percent of the world’s prison population” (Paul, 2015). Such an advanced and developed nation should not be riddled with such a crime infested society. The cause of this current issue is a direct result of a war on drugs declared by politicians in the 1980s. As American’s began to perceive drugs as society’s number one enemy, drug addiction was no longer viewed as a health problem, but instead a heinous crime deserving severe punishment. The introduction of crack cocaine played a large role in influencing politicians to take action to counteract the growing popularity surrounding the drug. As a result, President Regan declared a war on drugs and signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Unfortunately, this action ignited the beginning of an increase in prison population, and the end of fair and justified sentences for convicts, particularly nonviolent drug related offenses.

With new mandatory minimum penalties for drug crimes introduced by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, individuals were sentenced for extensive periods of time for possession of illegal drugs. As a result of these new mandatory minimums, prisons began filling up all across America. Contrary to research which shows, “the War on Drugs began at a time when illegal drug use was on the decline” (Alexander, 2010, p. 6). However, the use of media scare tactics sparked a nationwide drug panic, leading to politicians to change the system from rehabilitation to harsher punitive measures, which unfortunately did little to mitigate drug activity. In order to fuel these new sanctions a large amount of funding from taxpayers was required to support its elaborate budget. The hope was to rid the country of any drug outbreak, but its results proved to be ineffective. Figure 1 shows, “The controversial war on drugs not only costs a lot, it has done almost nothing to curb the drug addiction rate since 1970, according to this stunning chart by documentary filmmaker Matt Groff comparing the cost of drug control to the drug addiction rate. Groff used the rate of addiction to illicit drugs from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, pairing it with federal drug control budget spending numbers from the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy” (Groff, 2012). Groff’s graph shows how unsuccessful monetary efforts have been in deterring drug activity.

Figure 1: The costly effects of the War on Drugs compared to drug addiction rate from 1970-2010 From: Groff, M. (2012, October 12). A chart that says the war on drugs isn't working. Retrieved from http://www.thewire.com/national/2012/10/chart-says-war-drugs-isnt-working/57913/

Although the crack cocaine epidemic and the drug scare has fizzled out of America’s mainstream focus, its drug policy effects from the 1980s are still observable today. Minimal improvements to the past sanctions established have been made to better the justice system. In fact, the past behavior towards fighting drug crime have become the new norm and now the problem of overcrowded prisons and mass incarceration lingers today. The over estimation of appropriate minimum sentences has caused the prison population to incessantly escalate. The housing of so many American citizens in prison for such extensive periods is unacceptable, and fails to benefit society. Fortunately, a plan of action has been generated that has developed a logical solution to counteract the years of unjust and unfair sentencing laws.

FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums) a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization is fighting for more appropriate sentencing laws that protect public safety. On February 12, 2015, a bill was introduced by FAMM titled the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015, sponsored by Representatives Raul Labrador (R-ID) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Congress’s lack of sympathy for criminals has led to little to no motivation to soften cemented polices of the justice system that have been utilized for years. However, as America continues to prosper as a world superpower, there is still a nationwide justice issue that needs to be addressed. With enough support from Congress this bill will return balance to America’s criminal justice system.

The Effects of the War

The growth in prison population shows that the American government has lost control over its ability to contain crime. Crime rates have remained stable but prison population continued to rise, proving that offenders are receiving unnecessary sentences. However, other factors have begun to dilute society as a result of mass incarceration. The failed war on drugs brought on social, discriminatory, racial and economic issues that exist today. These obstacles effect not only the prison system but the entire country. Unfortunately, there is a lack of America’s mainstream attention on these issues, and they will continue to grow without government intervention.

Ever since mandatory minimum sentences became the new justifiable norm for drug sentencing, an increase in societal problems began to emerge. For one, the sentencing laws were disproportionate to the crime. With the original intentions of preventing crime, Congress created outrages sentencing laws in an attempt to encourage fear in the public’s perspective on drug use. However, the laws created were unfair in terms of a justifiable punishment to society. Congress’s support of harsher sentences may have seemed like a rational solution but, “research illustrates that the general public tends to underestimate the severity of sanctions generally imposed. This is not surprising given that members of the public are often unaware of the specifics of sentencing policies. Potential offenders are also unlikely to be aware of modifications to sentencing policies, thus diminishing any deterrent effect” (Wright, 2010, p. 3). Harsher sentences were a significant impact of the War on Drugs, but research shows its minimal impact on effecting criminal behavior. Therefore, it should be clear to see prison population rise considerably due to the public’s lack of knowledge for new criminal sanctions. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened, and a mass of unethical convictions were then administered.

In addition to unjustified sentencing, discriminatory behavior of the criminal justice system occurred in an age where racism is said to be a settled issue. After the crack cocaine panic of the 1980s, extremely high sentences for crack cocaine were imposed, especially compared to its original form of powder cocaine. Congress felt a need to severely punish crack use at rates far worse than powder cocaine users because of the belief that crack was associated with more crime. However, this simply sparked correlations between crack cocaine sentencing and African American communities. Studies show that drug use is common among all ethnic groups, but African Americans are targeted more often and sent to prison for crack than any other ethnicity. Congress hoped the severe sentencing of crack would end the use of the drug, but it only resulted in detrimental effects on the African American community. For this reason, blacks have been unfairly profiled and targeted by law enforcement officers, and are more prone to arrest. The huge disparity has led some to believe the government uses drug policies as a method to control African Americans. “Sociologist have frequently observed that governments use punishment primarily as a tool of social control, and thus the extent or severity of punishment is often unrelated to actual crime patters” (Alexander, 2010, p. 7). Some civil rights activist have considered the justice system a scheme to oppress the black population and a modern Jim Crow. It has become the cultural standard for African Americans to experience a life behind bars at some point which is unique in comparison to any other ethnic group.

The crack cocaine disparity created an inequality between African Americans and upper and middle class society. Therefore, making it more difficult for an African American to advance in society. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “non-Hispanic blacks (37%) comprised the largest portion of male inmates under state or federal jurisdiction in 2013, compared to non-Hispanic whites (32%) and Hispanics (22%)” (2014, p. 1). These results are startling based on the makeup of America’s demographics. “Government data demonstrates that drug use rates are similar among all racial and ethnic groups. For crack cocaine, two-thirds of users in the U.S. are white or Hispanic . . . people of color are disproportionately subject to the penalties for both types of cocaine. Indeed, 81.8 percent of crack cocaine defendants in 2006 were African American” (Federal Crack Cocaine, 2010, p. 5). Statistics evidently prove the equality in crack use among ethnicities, but blacks seem to be the largest victim of law enforcement. Recently, with President Obama’s support, “the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA) was signed into law, reducing to approximately 18 to 1 the sentencing ratio amount of powder cocaine versus crack cocaine that triggers the same penalty. The legislation also eliminates the mandatory minimum for simple possession of crack” (Defender Services Office, 2015). Although a great start in correcting the justice system’s previous sanctions, further corrections are still necessary to account for the damage of the War on Drugs. The Fair Sentencing Act was not a retroactive bill, so it did not allow for past offenders to revisit their cases to receive sentences in line with the new act.

Further civil liberties have been compromised by the justice system. The title that is associated with an arrest record can be unsympathetic. The labeling of a felon will follow an individual in almost all aspects of daily life. A felon label includes a majority of that individual’s rights revoked and is subject to, “employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusion from jury service” (Alexander, 2010, p. 2). Not only are criminals punished with longer prison sentences, but they continue to deal with discriminatory elements once they are released from prison. African American’s have been punished more notably than any other minority group with these loses of freedom, and thus see many barriers to progression. Figure 2 shows the likelihood of arrest for an African American male with or without a high school diploma, compared to a white male. African Americans have been the biggest sufferers of the War on Drugs but the effects of the war are not solely a race issue. All Americans have incurred negative effects of the justice system, either directly from an experience of incarceration or through increased taxes to fund prisons.

The economic benefits of reducing prison population should be more than enough incentive to encourage a change. Housing criminals is not a cheap task, and the scarce resources of the Justice Department are being depleted. Adjusting policy can save billions of dollars that the American economy could desperately use. According to a report conducted by The Hamilton Project, each U.S. resident is paying about $260 per year on corrections, up from $77 per person in 1980, thanks to the country's annual $80 billion budget for incarceration (2014, p. 13). Radical spending has proven to be ineffective, in the fight to stop crime and studies will show that the extended sentences are unnecessary and unjust in preventing crime. Prisons should be saved for the more dangerous and violent offenders rather than couriers who make up, “more than a quarter of federal drug offenders—and two-thirds of federal marijuana offenders . . . the lowest-level trafficking roles on a culpability scale developed by the commission” (Public Safety, 2015). Statistics will show that a majority of prisons are filled with nonviolent lower level drug offenders, rather than violent or even leadership roles in the drug trade. This is a waste of monetary resources, the federal prison system, “now consumes more than $6.7 billion a year, or roughly 1 in 4 dollars spent by the U.S. Justice Department” (Public Safety, 2015). Resources should be applied to imprisoning those that impose a larger threat to society. In a struggling economy, any avenue to decrease spending should be exploited.

Figure 2: The likelihood of arrest for an African American male compared to a white male, with or without a high school diploma From: Harris, B., Jácome, E., Kearney, M., & Parker, L. (2014, May 1). Ten Economic Facts about Crime and Incarceration in the United States. The Hamilton Project. 1-26. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/05/01 crime facts/v8_thp_10crimefacts.pdf

STEPS TO RECOVERY

There are clear effects remaining from the War on Drugs that are still prevalent today. These unresolved issues can be fixed through the Smarter Sentencing Act. This act has solutions that involve: reducing federal prison population, applying more proportionate sentences, restoring broken families, and lessening the strain on limited resources of the federal prison system. The act was first introduced in 2013 and failed to gather enough backing in Congress, but was re-introduced in 2015 and is growing bipartisan co-sponsor support. In 1986, when Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, it created mandatory 5 year minimums for what was believed to be serious traffickers, and 10 year minimums for what was considered major traffickers. According to research from the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the average federal drug defendant does not equate to the original assumptions, and during fiscal year 2013, 93% of defendants did not play a leadership or management role in their offense (2013). Section 4 of the Sentencing Act, titled Sentencing Modifications for Certain Drug Offenses reduces mandatory minimum drug sentences. If passed it will, “reduce certain 20-year, 10-year, and 5-year mandatory minimum drug sentences to 10, 5, and 2 years, respectively. The bill also reduces the mandatory minimum life without parole sentence for a third drug offense to a minimum term of 20 years” (FAMM, 2015). This does not change or effect any, “mandatory minimum penalties for drug importation offenses or for drug crimes that result in the death or serious bodily injury of others. The bill also does not change any sentences for violent, gun, or sex offenders” (FAMM, 2015). Shorter minimum sentences are necessary to decrease prison population and they are a fairer and more justified way of dealing with drug crimes. The bill does not reduce maximum penalties, so courts are still able to apply more applicable sentences that suit the criminal offense. This will resolve social justice issues of unfair sentencing as well as improve the economic issue by the decrease in prisoner population. “The Justice Department estimated last year that the Smarter Sentencing Act would save $24 billion over 20 years and prevent the building of over a dozen new prisons and the hiring of thousands of new correctional officers” (FAMM, 2015). Each prison bed comes at an expensive cost that should be reserved for more dangerous criminals.

Disproportionate punishment has led to prisons filling with nonviolent drug offenders. Another section of the Smarter Sentencing Act expands the drug safety valve. “If passed, the bill will allow drug offenders who have 3 or fewer criminal history points under the guidelines to qualify for application of the safety valve. This ensures that very old, minor, or misdemeanor convictions for which people served no prison or jail time will not disqualify nonviolent, low-level offenders from a fairer sentence below the mandatory minimum term” (FAMM, 2015). The act reserves expensive prison beds for more dangerous criminals. The additional money can be used to educate the public on the dangers of drugs and strengthen rehabilitation facilities rather than increased prison time that does little to prevent, deter, or decrease recidivism rates. Educating the public is crucial because as mentioned earlier, the general public tends to underestimate the severity of sanctions. Fortunately, the bill covers this issue and, “will require the Justice Department and other federal agencies to compile, and make publicly available on their websites, lists of all federal laws and regulations, their criminal penalties, and the intent required to violate the law” (FAMM, 2015). This address bipartisan concern over the amount of federal and regulatory laws that are sending well-meaning citizens to jail for unknowingly or un-intentionally breaking the law. Instead of locking up more American citizens, efforts should be focused on helping educate and informing citizens, instead of looking to punish them.

Finally, the discrimination that resulted from the War on Drugs is also addressed in the Smarter Sentencing Act. In order to correct for the racially unjust treatment of mainly African Americans, the Sentencing Act has created a resolution which will, “permit 8,800 federal prisoners (87% of which are black) who are imprisoned for crack cocaine crimes to return to court to seek fairer punishments in line with the Fair Sentencing Act, a unanimously-passed measure that reduced the racially discriminatory disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences in 2010. Sentence reductions will not be automatic, and courts can deny reductions to those who are a danger to the public” (FAMM, 2015). The date in which a person was sentenced should not be a factor in repairing unjust practices. The current inmates sentenced before the Fair Sentencing Act deserve the right to benefit from the new law which President Obama stated would, “‘help right a long-standing wrong by narrowing sentencing disparities between those convicted of crack cocaine and powder cocaine.’ He added, ‘It's the right thing to do’” (Kurtzleben, 2010). The thousands of prisoners that were already given extended sentences should not be forgotten. This will help restore African American communities by reuniting families with absent mothers and fathers. A full recovery of the justice system will result in the passing of this final step.

Recommendations for Improvement

For years America’s justice system has plagued the nation in several ways. The rise in incarceration rates brought on discriminatory and racial practices that divided the nation. Social rights were violated with the rise of mandatory minimum sentences and prisons began to flood with new inmates. The economy has also diminished as billions of American dollars are practically wasted on a hopeless drug war. Fortunately, the Smarter Sentencing Act has the appropriate sanctions to improve the nation’s justice dilemma. With the support of Congressman Franks, this bill will receive necessary momentum that should result in passing of the act. The act’s four steps will include cures to correct outdated and ineffective laws. First step, reducing sentencing minimums to lower the high prison population and correctly sentence offenders which as a result will save billions of dollars. Second, reduce the safety drug valve to ensure only dangerous prisoners remain in captivity. Third, remedy years of discrimination that African American citizens have endured by allowing revisitation of crack cocaine cases to align them with the Fair Sentencing Act. Lastly, make federal laws and regulation information more accessible to the general public to help educate. The evidence clearly proves that the War on Drugs was a costly mishandling of a societal predicament, caused by a nationwide panic triggered by the crack cocaine epidemic. If action is not taken, the problems Americans face today will become overwhelming and unable to tackle. To protect the country, urgent action is necessary to deal with prisoners in a justifiable fashion. As a united nation, even the most unfavorable civilians deserve correct treatment from its justice system.

References

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Carson, A. (2014, September 30). Prisoners in 2013. U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1-32. Retrieved from http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf

Defender Services Office (2015). Crack cocaine sentencing. Retrieved November 6, 2015 from www.fd.org

Federal crack cocaine sentencing. (2010, October 1). The Sentencing Project. 1-9. Retrieved, from http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/dp_CrackBriefingSheet.pdf

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Harris, B., Jácome, E., Kearney, M., & Parker, L. (2014, May 1). Ten Economic Facts about Crime and Incarceration in the United States. The Hamilton Project. 1-26. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/05/01 crime facts/v8_thp_10crimefacts.pdf

Kurtzleben, D. (2010, August 3). Data show racial disparity in crack sentencing. Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/08/03/data-show-racial-disparity-in-crack-sentencing

Paul, R. (2015, March 9). Sens. Paul and booker re-introduce the redeem act. Retrieved from http://www.paul.senate.gov/news/press/sens-paul-and-booker-re-introduce-the-redeem-act

Public Safety Performance Project. (2015, August 27). Federal drug sentencing laws bring high cost low return. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2015/08/federal-drug-sentencing-laws-bring-high-cost-low-return

S. 502 / H.R. 920, The Smarter Sentencing Act. (2015) FAMM. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://famm.org/s-502-the-smarter-sentencing-act/

U.S. Sentencing Commission role adjustment of drug offenders in each drug type. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/annual-reports-and-sourcebooks/2013/Table40.pdf

Wright, V. (2010, November 1). Deterrence in criminal justice evaluating certainty vs. severity of punishment. The Sentencing Project, 1-9