Posted on 10/14/2016 4:25:58 PM PDT by BBell
On any given day in the United States, at least 137,000 people sit behind bars on simple drug-possession charges, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch.
Nearly two-thirds of them are in local jails. The report says that most of these jailed inmates have not been convicted of any crime: They're sitting in a cell, awaiting a day in court, an appearance that may be months or even years off, because they can't afford to post bail.
"It's been 45 years since the war on drugs was declared, and it hasn't been a success," lead author Tess Borden of Human Rights Watch said in an interview. "Rates of drug use are not down. Drug dependency has not stopped. Every 25 seconds, we're arresting someone for drug use."
Federal figures on drug arrests and drug use over the past three decades tell the story. Drug-possession arrests skyrocketed, from fewer than 200 arrests for every 100,000 people in 1979 to more than 500 in the mid-2000s. The drug-possession rate has since fallen slightly, according to the FBI, hovering near 400 arrests per 100,000 people.
Defenders of harsh penalties for drug possession say they are necessary to deter people from using drugs and to protect public health. But despite the tough-on-crime push that led to the surge in arrests in recent decades, illicit drug use today is more common among Americans age 12 and older than it was in the early 1980s. Federal figures show no correlation between drug-possession arrests and rates of drug use during that time.
But the ACLU and Human Rights Watch report shows that arrests for drug possession continue to make up a significant chunk of modern-day police work.
"Around the country, police make more arrests for drug possession than for
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The “Criminal Justice Industrial Complex” is far too profitable for far too many. What would cops, lawyers, corrections, bail bondsmen, judges and court house employees do? What would happen to the wonderful kick-backs from the dealers?
LOL is right.
The libs want people to believe this BS but very few go to jail on simple MJ possession charge. That’s a damn summons because police don’t want to go through booking someone on this crap. Catch and release.
Now if they were being truthful, they would say that the real reason they are in jail is for warrants, and the dope was due to a search incident to arrest, that I would believe.
you mean we have “millions” in jail for drug use.....wow....love to see the official stats on that...
That’s in NYC alone for only 12 years. So for the forty years from 1976 to 2016, I’d have to say millions nationwide is indisputable.
LOL.
I’m not saying that we have millions of Americans incarcerated at one time right now, what I’m saying is that once you have been convicted of a felony drug crime and have a criminal record, life becomes very difficult. These people have a tough time finding decent jobs, a tough time getting credit, getting into good colleges, etc. They are essentially burdened with an anchor that’s dragging them and into the permanent underclass.
The victims of the criminal justice system could be your friends, your family, and eventually even you.
And our wonderful civil confiscation system has become a de facto tax. Those who benefit by a tax are the first to argue against losing that benefit.
Waco?
So your associates include gang bangers in addition to Soros?
“Would an end to these arrests put over 30% of our Police out of a job? Would an end to the tickets, paroles lawyer fees and fines paid by those accused of pot possession put a city at great financial compromise? I hope not.”
So you’re good with putting otherwise harmless people in cages, so long as it provides jobs and creates revenue?
Okay.
You know that is a God-damned lie, so why don’t you just admit it?
Are you referring to the Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance?
I will as soon as I see you denounce biker gangs and Soros funded groups.
Why of course not. However I do not separate the world into sheer black and sheer white and believe there are certain canons of civil treatment that should be afforded to everybody.
Your argument and insinuation falls apart the moment it is put under any kind of real examination.
You will do what’s right only when you see someone else do what you say is right?
No. Not justifying it at all. I’m just wondering have the City Court and Legal systems become so dependent on this type of arrest as an artificial way of staying solvent given their expenditures that they would implode or crash without it?
If such is the case, they need to restructure their budgets and their priorities.
Any system that built, in whole or in part, on revenue generated from non-crimes *should* implode.
I don’t know. But the point remains that millions jailed in the last forty years for violating marijuana laws is not an unreasonable estimate.
Here’s something from the ACLU ...
Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana.
Looks like ‘millions’ is a massive understatement, doesn’t it?
You consider drug dealers as non-criminals?
Oh yes, another great fringe benefit for some in our glorious “War on Drugs”.
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