Introduction
The war on drugs is global. Drug use affects people all over the world. There are concerted efforts to fight drug use and eliminate the drug market, finally achieving what the Global Commission on Drug Policy Report (2011) calls a drug free world. Yet the same report shows that between 1998 and 2008, the use of opiates, cocaine and cannabis increased by percentages of 34.5. 27 and 8.5 respectively. While the war on drugs is yet to be won, drugs have impacted the criminal justice system in several ways.
Background
The war on drugs, aimed at eradicating illicit drugs use in the United States, kicked off in 1971 following a declaration by President Richard Nixon (Lopez, 2016). He declared that drug abuse was the worst enemy to the American public (Bergmann, 2014). Under Nixon, the Drug Abuse Law Enforcement Office was established in 1972 and in 1973, the efforts of several agencies were consolidated under the Drug Enforcement Administration. More efforts were undertaken under the Reagan administration and others that followed leading to the intensification of efforts globally by the military and the police against drugs (Lopez, 2016). Yet as Lopez notes, although the drug war has made drugs less accessible, drug use is still an acute problem in the US. It also has had several unintended consequences, especially on the criminal justice system.
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The war on drugs has greatly strained the American criminal justice system. Improper drug use has been criminalized and harsh punitive sanctions imposed on drug offenders. Mandatory sentences and lengthy prison penalties for small-time drug use has become the main cause of mass imprisonment (Stevenson, 2011) which has strained prisons all over the country.
The war on drugs has for a long time affected minority communities the most (Lopez, 2016). Although drug abuse is not just found among the blacks and neither are the rates of wrong-doing higher in these minority communities than they are in other communities, the offenders from the black communities are more likely to be incarcerated. Mauer and King (2007) explain it well: Focusing on black communities for drug laws enforcement has compounded the issues of racial bias in American society and created some of the vicious debates about the enduring legacy of racial discrimination. Racial discrimination in the fight for drugs is a major problem in the criminal justice system.
It is also evident that drug enforcement has diverted funds from law enforcement of violent crimes and other misconducts that threaten public safety (Stevenson, 2011). Expenditure and grants for commissions investigating drug use and the war on drugs as well as extensive drug prohibition efforts that are often aimed at low-level drug distribution are prioritized. These highly organized and coordinated efforts use a lot of manpower from local law enforcement agencies at the expense of the investigation of other crimes. Mauer and King (2007) observed that redirecting law enforcement resources to drug crimes has resulted in more drunk driving and a reduction in the investigation and execution of violent crime laws.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report of 2006 indicates that most addicts are more likely to miss drug therapy and treatment while in confinement due to the escalating costs of imprisonment. The increasing costs of mass incarceration mean that resources meant for treatment and counseling are scarce yet some of these services are very effective.
The rise of corruption among the officers charged with waging the war on drugs is yet another effect of drugs in the criminal justice system. At the border, for example, drug smugglers use money and sex to bribe the officers for protection and also to avoid a crackdown.
Local police, as well as federal agencies, can seize assets of suspected drug dealers they deem associated with drugs and use such funds to supplement the agencies’ budgets. According to The Sentencing Project (2011), asset forfeiture laws distort priorities; they encourage police agencies to favor drug law enforcement at the expense of other categories of crimes.
Data
The prison population in the US has risen to 2.3 million in 2011 from the 300,000 incarcerated in 1972 (Stevenson, 2011). Though drug offenders account for sixteen percent of the figures in the table below and the majority, fifty-four percent, are violent offenders, the relationship between drug use and violence cannot be ignored.
Indeed, approximately half a million prisoners are incarcerated in state or federal prisons or local jails for drug-related offenses, a big increase from the 41,000 that were in prison in 1980 (The Sentencing Project, 2007).
One in three prisoners was receiving treatment while in confinement in 1991. Presently, the ratio has dropped to one in seven. (Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, 2006). If no treatment is offered the rates of recidivism will remain high.
A study recently carried out in California has shown that expenditure on drug treatment is eight times more likely to cut down drug use than expenditure on confinement (Stevenson, 2011). Such interventions would reduce spending as well as the strain on the prison system.
In Illinois, a 47% rise in drug apprehensions was linked to a 22% reduction in those for drunk driving (The Sentencing Project, 2007). This shows that law enforcement agencies are concentrating on drugs at the expense of other areas of law enforcement.
Black Americans constitute 14% of steady drug users in the US, yet 37% of those apprehended for drug-related offenses and 56% of those imprisoned for drug crimes are blacks (The Sentencing Project, 2007). Racial profiling and stereotyping affect the criminal justice system; blacks are more likely to be jailed for drug offenses.
According to Lopez (2016), huge expenditure is not working as exemplified by the $7.6 billion the US spent between 2002 and 2014 to fight opium in Afghanistan, yet the cultivation of opium poppy in the country was at its highest in 2013. Heavy spending may not bear fruit; it is time to change tactics.
By 1994, local police forces had seized almost $1.4 billion of drug-related assets but 80% of asset seizures did not end in a criminal verdict (Sentencing Project, 2011). The arbitrary seizure of assets not only threatens civil liberties, it also distorts priorities where the agencies will concentrate on drugs where they can argument their budget, at the expense of other law enforcement areas.
The GAO Report for Congressional Requesters (2012) stated that between 2005 and 2012, 144 US border personnel were apprehended or charged with corruption-related undertakings, the trafficking of drugs included; 125 of them were convicted. This is but an example of the agencies where corruption is rife.
Conclusion
The crack-down on drugs has had several impacts on the criminal justice system. The prisons are bursting at the seams due to mass incarceration. The offenders rarely get treatment in prison. Treatment and counseling should be prioritized and it might be an alternative to incarceration which will reduce the prison population. Racial profiling and stereotyping are rife yet blacks are not the only community abusing drugs. A Proper investigation should be carried out. Investing heavily in the war on drugs as well as diverting resources is not bearing fruit; alternative interventions should be sought. Corruption in the agencies is rife especially as pertains to drug offenders. Smuggler and dealers have enough money to bribe rogue officers. Investigations on corruption in the criminal justice system should be intensified. Asset forfeiture laws should be reexamined as they lead to prioritizing drug investigations at the expense of other crimes. The war on drugs continues.
References
Bergmann, M. (2014). How the drug war impacts the criminal justice system. http://www.globalresearch.ca/how-the-drug-war-impacts-the-criminal-justice- system/5385165
Global Commission on Drug Policy (2011). War on drugs. https://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp- content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/Global_Commission_Report_English.pdf
Lopez, G. (ed.) (2016). The war on drugs, explained. http://www.vox.com/cards/war-on-drugs- marijuana-cocaine-heroin-meth/war-on-drugs-goals
Mauer, M. & King, R. S. (2007). A 25-Year Quagmire: The War on Drugs and Its Impact on American Society. The Sentencing Project. http://www.sentencingproject.org/wp- content/uploads/2016/01/A-25-Year-Quagmire-The-War-On-Drugs-and-Its-Impact-on- American-Society.pdf
Stevenson. B. (2011). Drug policy, criminal justice and mass imprisonment. http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp- content/themes/gcdp_v1/pdf/Global_Com_Bryan_Stevenson.pdf
The Sentencing Project (2011). Drug policy and the criminal justice system. https://static.prisonpolicy.org/scans/sp/5047.pdf
U.S. Department of Justice (2006). Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report October 2006: Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004 (revised 1/19/07). https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudsfp04.pdf
United States Government Accountability Office (2012). Border Security: Additional actions needed to strengthen CBP efforts to mitigate risk of employee corruption and misconduct. http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/650505.pdf
