People of color bear the prejudicial brunt of the consequences from the outcome of War on Drugs and subsequently experience mass incarceration from drug offenses. People of color are sentenced to hugely disparate rates of incarceration when compared to their white counterparts. Racial disparities in prison is undeniably present. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2018), “in 2014, African Americans constituted 2,300,000, or 34% of the total 6,800,000 million correctional population”. Racial discrimination within the criminal justice system is rampant throughout all levels; establishing with the introduction to the criminal justice system via the police and continuing through sentencing and incarceration. Widespread discrimination within the criminal justice system and mass incarceration has profound effects people of color living with the inner cities and by extension, rural communities. These effects funnel down through entire generations. The systematic racism that is inherent in the American criminal justice system has greatly hindered the attempted progress to be made. The criminal justice system and people of color are still targeted and tormented by the War on Drugs and the aftereffects.
The War on Drugs is a government-driven initiative intended to curb the influx of drug use and stop the distribution and trade of illicit drugs. Not only was the War on Drugs ineffective, but the campaign resulted in the mass incarceration of people of color for largely minor drug offenses. Drug offenses and prosecutions continue to increase with the use of the drug crack; the War on Drugs produced a Crack-Cocaine disparity. Before the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, the sentencing disparity was a staggering 100:1. This discrepancy indicates that it would take 100 times the amount of cocaine to parallel the sentence for producing, distributing, or consuming crack. According to statistics from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, African Americans, who make up 12.2% of the population, account for 37% of crack users, meaning that they are 3.5 times more likely than whites to be regular crack users. But people of color, specifically African Americans, are 21.2 times more likely than white people to go to federal prison on a crack charge. Crack is primarily consumed by people of color within inner cities since it is less expensive to purchase, while cocaine is primarily consumed by affluent white people. Another significant issue involving the Crack-Cocaine disparity is the ability of the defendant to retain an attorney, someone charged with a drug offense for possession of cocaine, are more likely to be able to retain a private attorney, while poorer people of color are commonly assigned a public defender. Public defenders have a plethora of cases that they must defend and do not have the time or resources to give one offender their full attention. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (2012), “African Americans served virtually as much time in prison for non-violent drug offenses as whites did for violent offenses”. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, under the Obama Administration, reduced the Crack-Cocaine disparity to 18:1.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance (2018), there were 1,572,579 arrests for drug violation and 1,249,025 were for drug possession only. Although this number has slightly decreased from the number of incarcerated at the height of the War on Drugs, 80,000 inmates is a huge number of incarcerated for drug offenses. According to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2018), the number of incarcerated jumped from roughly 500,000 to over 2,200,000. This resulted in a disproportionate amount of people of color incarcerated. According to the Drug Policy Alliance (2018), 57% of people incarcerated for drug offenses are people of color.
During the implementation of the War on Drugs, President Richard Nixon coined the phrase “tough on crime” to describe how the War on Drugs would conclude the drug problem in the United States. The criminal justice system must be harsh in sentencing offenders to reduce recidivism and to become a deterrent. However, the War on Drugs neither reduced recidivism nor became a deterrent. The restoration of “law and order” in America and fighting the drug epidemic was the top priority of the Nixon administration. The War on Drugs and the Nixon administration aided in the acceleration of the United States’ prison system that is unparalleled.
Drugs within the inner city have become racialized. When one considers what the typical drug user looks like, one often envisions the stereotypical “black” criminal; however, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (2018), African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates. The War on Drugs exacerbated this stereotype. The average American became so transfixed with the drug hysteria that they approved of drastic measures to combat drug use. Crime reports and news programs continued to sensationalize the rising crime rates and drug use. With highly publicized campaigns of “Just Say No” and “DARE”, the anti-drug campaigns were concentrated on drug abstinence over treatment programs. It should be noted that the DARE program was a dismal failure and cannot conclude that the program had a positive impact on generations of children.
The War on Drugs also introduced mandatory minimums for drug offenses. Mandatory minimums are pre-determined sentences based off certain charges and eliminate any sentencing discretion from judges. For example, the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation (2017) states that a “minimum 5-year sentence must be imposed for distribution of 5 grams of methamphetamine”. Mandatory minimums fail to take other factors into account and are generally solely based off of drug quantity. Other mitigating factors that ought to be taken into account are their offender score, if someone was injured during the committing of the crime, the seriousness of the crime, and socioeconomic factors. Julie Netherland in their article, The War on Drugs That Wasn’t: Wasted Whiteness, “Dirty Doctors”, and Race in Media Coverage of Prescription Opioid Misuse, describes the policy implementation during the Nixon era demonized black and Latino crack users and that the response from the Criminal Justice system was to incarcerate people of color for crack abuse.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance (2016), “prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue mandatory minimum sentences for black people as for white people charged with the same offense. Among people who received mandatory minimum sentences in 2011, 38% were Latino and 31% were black”. Since the discretion is being taken away from the judges, the discretion is ultimately given to prosecutor who pursue certain charges, fully knowing the mandatory minimums. Studies have shown that prosecutors have a pattern of selective prosecution where prosecutors single out people of color to prosecute and do not prosecute their white counterparts (Walker et. Al., 2012, p. 224).
Inner city employment was often blue-collar work like manufacturing or industrial jobs; however, globalization has transported these blue-collar jobs to overseas companies (Alexander, 2011, p. 50). This international shift caused the inner city’s economy to plummet. Without the skills and education to obtain sufficient employment, the production, trade, and use of illegal drugs have become full-time employment for people living with the inner city, as there are little to no other options that would economically provide for themselves and their dependents. According to William W. Goldsmith in his chapter, “The Drug War and Inner-City Neighborhoods (2011), “the drug economy functions with great energy in many neighborhoods burdened with concentrated poverty, high unemployment, low wages, and meager public amenities. In such bleak environments, the drug economy provides entrepreneurial opportunities for some and an accessible although illegal means of earning income for others”.
The War on Drugs and the continuing coverage of the drug problem is focused on inner city America. The highlighted region houses mainly Africa America people; however, there is a widespread problem of drug use in rural America. This region houses primarily white, low-income families. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (2018) describes the cause of the drug problem in rural America as the result of social and economic decline. Jobs, like in the inner cities, have moved to larger cities and internationally. The economic stressors can result in drug addiction. Another issue regarding rural areas is the inaccessibility to treatment facilities and educational programs that would aid in combatting their drug addiction.
With such a bleak outlook on life as well as the prevalence and the financial success of drug dealers, children of color are often initiated into selling drugs after joining area gangs. The indoctrination of young children of color into gangs begins the lifelong fixation with drugs. This social ideal of becoming a drug dealer permeates through society in the inner cities and rural communities. This economic discrimination is embodied by the American dream and societal punishment resulting in being a poor person of color. Elijah Anderson (1999) in “Code of the Street” argues that the “rapid establishment of crack” has exacerbated the problem of the drug trade as employment (p.114 and 121). The addictiveness of crack only ensures job security for those who sell it. Children in inner cities and rural areas often adapt to their “code of the streets”.
Poverty also plays a substantial role in illegal drug use; in impoverished underprivileged areas, rampant drug use is prevalent. According to Robert Kaestner (1998) in their article, Does Drug Use Cause Poverty, in inner city neighborhoods that are characterized by high rates of drug use, a consistent pattern of drug use is found. Other sources of drug use include peer pressure, crisis, and the worsening of their economic positions (p. 2). The War on Drugs also exacerbated the problems that impoverished people face. Consequentially, “drug use may affect educational achievement, or attainment, and hence lower earnings and increase poverty” (Kaestner, 1998, pg. 4).
While incarcerated, offenders are often unable to utilize the resources that are offered. Without funding, prisons are unable to offer educational, reformatory, or employment programs that will aid the offender in securing employment upon release. If an offender is unable to secure sufficient employment, then they are more likely to reoffend and the cycle of incarceration and re-entry becomes never-ending. Incarceration has devastating aftereffects on those previously incarcerated and their families. Incarcerated individuals also often miss out on special familial events, such as birthdays, holidays, and graduations. Incarceration for minor drug offenses emphasizes the governing of people of color in the United States criminal justice system. This further perpetuates the belief that people of color are menaces to society, continues the norm that people of color are criminals, and alienates and stigmatizes people of color.
How does society move forward and learn from past mistakes regarding the War on Drugs? Multiple practices should be enacted; first, instead of utilizing scare tactics and sentencing offenders to prison, offenders should be first sentenced to drug courts. The successful completion of drug court removes the drug conviction from the offender’s criminal history record. Offenders then receive counseling and drug tests to assist success in the program. Second, during the sentencing phase of the court appearance, judges should be permitted to take mitigating factors into consideration. Mandatory minimums should not apply, and discretionary powers should be appropriately used. Third, the decriminalization of drugs possession can aid in the removal of non-dangerous offenders from prison. And finally, the allowance of offenders with criminal records to enjoy the same liberties that people without criminal records have. Criminal records act as significant and often insurmountable barriers to those who are trying to obtain employment, receive financial aid assistance to go to college, and vote.
The rhetoric of “law and order” and “tough on crime” is emboldened by the mass incarceration of people of color. While the War on Drugs was introduced to curb the production, transportation, and use of drugs in America; the operation was a dismal failure that resulted in the mass prejudicial incarceration of people of color for minor drug offenses. After the introduction of mandatory minimums and the Crack-Cocaine disparity, the blatant racism towards people of color was and continues to become apparent. The War on Drugs and supporting administrations are responsible for the disproportionate number of African Americans who are incarcerated. It is argued that the mass incarceration of people of color, that currently continues to thrive, is a new form of slavery that has become institutionalized and normalized in American society. Young people of color are sensitized to this epidemic which normalizes incarceration. Without economic security, the children of those incarcerated go on to become incarcerated themselves. The War on Drugs had and continues to have devastating effects on people of color who live within the inner city or rural communities.