The War Against Drugs1

Running head: THE WAR AGAINST DRUGS

The War Against Drugs and the Effect of Gender and Race on Drug Offenses

Autumn Hill

Substance Abuse

University of Central Florida

The United States has waged a war on drugs for many years. Many people think that we are losing the war on drugs (van Wormer & Davis, 2008). The plan that the government has to eradicate the war on drugs includes very harsh penalties and mandatory sentencing. All this does is throw people in jail or prison for longer periods of time and does not include a treatment for the person, just a harsh punishment. In turn, this makes our prisons and jails fill up very quickly and with mostly drug offenders. We are spending money on building more jails and prisons to house these inmates who have committed drug offenses instead of spending money on prevention and intervention such as treatment which costs less than throwing offenders in prison (van Wormer & Davis, 2008).

Effects of Race and Gender on Sentencing

When the mandatory sentencing for drug offenses was passed many prisons filled up quickly and it appeared to be there may be some discrimination in the race and gender of the inmates, especially in the state of Florida (Crawford, Chiricos, & Kleck, 1998; Crawford, 2000). I think it is very important that gender, race, labeling, and sentencing are looked at in the prisons in Florida to determine if there is a discrimination against nonwhites and gender. I found two large studies that looked at race and gender in Florida prisons and the label and sentencing of habitual offenders and drug offenses (Crawford, Chiricos, & Kleck, 1998; Crawford, 2000). One study looked at the male offenders population in the Florida prisons in 1992 - 1993 in relation to race, sentencing, type of offense, and labeling (Crawford, Chiricos, & Kleck, 1998) and the other looked at the female offenders population the same years in Florida in relation to race, sentencing, type of offense, and labeling (Crawford, 2000). If there is a discrimination of offenders sentenced then I think something needs to be done to help eradicate that discriminatory practice.

Results from the two studies indicated that there appeared to be discrimination based on race and gender. It appeared that African-Americans, both male and female received harsher penalties and labeled as habitual offenders for drug offenses than Caucasian males and females (Crawford, Chiricos, & Kleck, 1998; Crawford, 2000). Crawford (2000) found that African-American females were more than nine times more likely to be sentenced as habitual offenders than Caucasian females and 96% of the females sentenced as habitual offenders with drug related offenses were African-American. It was found that African-American males were between 36% and 69% more likely to be sentenced as habitual offenders than non-African-Americans (Crawford, Chiricos, & Kleck, 1998). It was also found that males are more likely to be sentenced as habitual offenders than females; however, when females are sentenced as this, they are mostly African-American females (Crawford, Chiricos, & Kleck, 1998; Crawford, 2000). It is obvious that some discrimination did exist in the criminal justice system according to these two studies. I think that discrimination does still exist in the criminal justice system in Florida and throughout the United States. According to van Wormer & Davis (2008), there is a disproportionate effect of sentencing on African-Americans and Latinos; the Sentencing Project Report of 1995 stated that one in three African-American males between 20 and 29 years of age was under correctional supervision or control. It has also been found according to the Office of Applied Statistics, that African-Americans consist of approximately 12% of the population and had a 9.7% rate of present drug use, yet made up 60% of the state and federal prisoners at the end of 2004 and their conviction drug rate is double that for Caucasian and Latino inmates in the United States in the state prison system (BJS, 2005; van Wormer & Davis, 2008).

In conclusion, we are definitely failing in our war against drugs. More money needs to be spent on prevention and treatment than on building prisons and jails and housing inmates. Some interventions could be drug courts in which the offender gets to go through treatment and not be locked up in a prison cell, substance abuse treatment, and informing the public correctly about drugs. There needs to be some way to eradicate and prevent the criminal justice system from discriminating against African-Americans. This is not fair and does not ensure social and economic justice and equality for all.

References

Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). (2005). Substance dependence, abuse, and treatment of jail inmates. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice. Retrieved April 3, 2008 from http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sdatji02.htm.

Crawford, C. (2000). Gender, Race, and Habitual Offender Sentencing in Florida. Criminology, 38 (1), 263-280.

Crawford, C., Chiricos, T., & Kleck, G. (1998). Race, Racial Threat, and Sentencing as an Habitual Offender. Criminology, 36 (3), 481-511.

Van Wormer, K. & Davis, D.R. (2008). Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspective. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Brooks/Cole.