Essay Sample on U.S. Drug War: 1000% Increase in Incarceration & $40B Spent Annually

Executive Summary

Since Nixon's Launch of War on Drugs Campaigns in the 1970s and President Regan's doubling down the implementation of harsh drug laws, incarceration has increased by around 1000% (Wacquant, 2013). As a result, the United States has the highest incarcerated populations in the world, with a prison population of more than 2.2 million people (Wagner & Sawyer , 2018). While an estimated $40 billion is spent in the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders, annually, the rate of recidivism remains high (Prisons Bureau, 2018). Therefore, it is clear that incarceration does little to address the issue of drug offenses. In this light, there is a need to change tact to address the high drug-related incarcerations, a move that will reduce pressure on the country's criminal justice system. This report presents rehabilitation through decriminalization as the solution to the high drug-related incarcerations, a problem that affects the entire society.

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According to research, rehabilitating drug offenders, instead of incarcerating them, has the potential of drastically reducing crime rates and also saving billions of dollars that would otherwise have been used to take care of the vast prison population (McVay et al., 2004). A study by the Foundation of Recovery found that if only 10 percent of drug-addicted offenders received drug rehabilitation instead of jail time, the criminal justice system would save $4.8 billion (Foundations Recovery Network, 2020). If 40 percent of addicted offenders received treatment instead of jail, the savings would rise to $12.9 billion (Foundations Recovery Network, 2020). Rehabilitation, therefore, seems like the perfect solution to the challenge of high drug-related incarcerations in a time when the federal government has a debt in the trillions. Other than saving billions of dollars of taxpayers' money, rehabilitation also has the potential to reduce crime and recidivism rates, fetes that existing policies have failed to achieve.

Scope of Problem

Today, more than 2.2 million people are held in various federal, state, juvenile, and local correctional facilities (Wagner & Sawyer , 2018). The number represents the highest incarcerated population in any country on earth. It is estimated that half of the prison population is serving terms for drug-related offenses. According to statistics, one in every five incarcerated people is serving for a drug offense (Wagner & Sawyer , 2018). While some jurisdictions no longer imprison people for certain drug offenses, several states still arrest and charge people for the same. The immediate effect of this practice is the destabilization of the lives of the offenders. In the long-term, the offenders get criminal records, which diminish their employment prospects. As a result, their likelihood of engaging in other forms of crime and serving longer sentences go up. As such, incarceration of drug offenders does not have any significant effect in reducing crime (Lofstrom & Raphael, 2016). On the contrary, it leads to ballooning up of the prison population, which in turn places more pressure on exchequer.

Policy Alternatives

The war on drugs launched by the Nixon administration and later re-energized by the Reagan administration focused on the arresting and charging of drug offenders. The move led to the explosion of the prison population, a challenge that is yet to be addressed. Moreover, while criminal justice systems around the world are aimed at the rehabilitation of offenders, the American system focusses more on criminalization and incarceration. The overemphasis on incarceration is grossly inadequate on the rehabilitation front (Polgar, 2019). Prisons in the country are also overcrowded, further stretching the ability of the criminal justice system to meet the prisoners' basic human needs and appropriately rehabilitate them. Up until the 1970s, the criminal justice system focused on rehabilitation. Prisoners were encouraged and helped to develop various occupational skills, as well as resolve any existing psychological problems, which might affect their reintegration into society (Polgar, 2019). However, the system changed and adopted an approach that focused more on punishment. Today, corrections based on a punitive philosophy have made rehabilitation more unlikely among the prisoners. The lack of rehabilitative programs in correctional facilities hinders the reintegration of offenders in society and has led to the high rates of recidivism (Bhuller et al., 2020).

Policy Recommendations

Since a focus on criminalization and incarceration, as well as the adoption of punitive philosophy in the criminal justice system, has not succeeded in addressing the high drug-related incarceration, rehabilitation through decriminalization holds the solution to this problem. Decriminalization involves the imposition of administrative laws or abolition of all laws regarding drug offenses. Portugal stands out as the perfect example of a success story of this policy. Since the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use in 2001, the country has significantly improved its drug situation (Cabral, 2017). Generally, the rates of drug use and crime in the country have reduced (Transform Drug Policy Foundation, 2020). Possession of drugs in the country still attracts penalties such as community service and fines. Adoption of a similar policy in the United States would significantly address the challenges facing the country's criminal justice system. Offenses such as possession of some drugs for personal use should be decriminalized. However, penalties for the offenses, such as community services, should be retained. This move will help reduce prison populations and hence save the country billions of dollars. Secondly, the correctional facilities should abandon the punitive approach and adopt various rehabilitative programs. The move will equip the offenders with the necessary skills to re-integrate and thrive in the free society upon release. The rates of crime and recidivism will also be addressed, and hence the high levels of incarceration will also be significantly tackled.

Consulted Sources

Bhuller, M., Dahl, G. B., Loken, K. V., & Mogstad, M. (2020). Incarceration, recidivism, and employment. Journal of Political Economy, 128(4). Retrieved from https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/705330

Cabral, T. S. (2017). The 15th anniversary of the Portuguese drug policy: Its history, its success and its future. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 3, 2050324516683640. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2050324516683640

Foundations Recovery Network. (2020). Drug Rehab Instead of Prison Could Save Billions. Retrieved from Foundations Recovery Network: https://dualdiagnosis.org/drug-rehab-instead-of-prison-could-save-billions-says-report-2/

Lofstrom, M., & Raphael, S. (2016). Crime, the criminal justice system, and socioeconomic inequality. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 30(2), 103-26. Retrieved from https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.30.2.103

McVay, D., Schiraldi, V., & Ziedenberg, J. (2004, January). Treatment or Incarceration? Treatment or Incarceration? Retrieved from Justice policy Institute: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/04-01_rep_mdtreatmentorincarceration_ac-dp.pdf

Polgar, A. T. (2019). Challenging Current Strategies of Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Offenders: Reasons for Hope. Retrieved from https://socialwork.asu.edu/sites/default/files/polgar_alexander_arizona_state_u_spring_2019_haskell_lecture_text.pdf

Prisons Bureau. (2018, April 30). Annual Determination of Average Cost of Incarceration. Retrieved from Federal Register: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/04/30/2018-09062/annual-determination-of-average-cost-of-incarceration

Transform Drug Policy Foundation. (2020). Drug decriminalisation in Portugal: setting the record straight. Retrieved from Transform Drug Policy Foundation: https://transformdrugs.org/drug-decriminalisation-in-portugal-setting-the-record-straight/

Wacquant, L. (2013). The great penal leap backward: Incarceration in America from Nixon to Clinton. The new punitiveness, 29-52. Retrieved from https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781843926436/chapters/10.4324/9781843926436-7

Wagner, P., & Sawyer , W. (2018, March 14). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018 . Retrieved from Prison Policy Initiative: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html