Social Consequences of the War on Drugs - Book Report/Review Example

 Social Consequences of the War on Drugs In this chapter, the author is very firm that the war on drugs is not justified and even if it ended its negative effects on the society, it will remain with us for quite some time. Some races especially the African Americans seem to be unjustly targeted and they are left disappointed and disoriented. The author is categorical that before the drug war began, there was a substantial decline in use of drugs among the household but since Regan wage the war, there has been even increased use of illegal drugs among the households, an argument I can’t agree more with. According to the author, the war on drugs has radicalized the criminal justice system and the purpose of his study is to unravel the mostly ignored fact by the criminologist of both social political and economic effects of the war on drugs. The war on drugs have brought a lot of changes to the criminal justice of the United States and there has been huge sums of money allocated by the federal government towards fighting the vice, but the results are very disappointing and it seems far from over. With increased budgetary allocation, there is increased use of illegal drugs. There are also increased constructions of prisons but this has not deterred people from using illegal drugs. The justice system is overstepping its mandate. There are frequent checks on the school parking lots and students are frisked without any search warrants. The sniffing dogs are also at the school compounds all this measures have been put in place without any show of serious problem of drugs in the schools. These measures are but just draining away states and federal government’s funds without any results to be proud of. The war is also tainting the image of the United States in other nations as united sates increasingly interfere with the sovereignty of other nations in its quest to fight illegal drugs use and smuggling. According to the author criminologist are only aware of the problematic justice system of the war on drugs and for that reason the author is interested in going into the social political and economic implications of war on drugs. The drug war has become not only a problem to the user caught in the criminal justice system but also have far reaching consequences on their relatives and families. The war have left young men mostly African Americans destitute after coming out of prisons to face a whole new world a world that sees them as criminals while at the same time expecting to be employed by the same society for source of livelihood. Many loose political influence especially with lack of voting rights. They are left at crossroads on whether to return to their destructive livelihood or be brave enough and start up new and stable families. The war on drugs led to increased building of prison capacity of which critics believe that the increase of prison capacity will create more prisoners to occupy such spaces. If these prison capacities are increased then it will be inevitable to find the occupants. The earlier measure including community probation was better because it didn’t isolate an individual more and therefore one could easily get back to work with the community without much stereotype and less stress. This is evident in California where the number of drug related imprisonment in 1997 were more than all crimes imprisoned in 1978 due to increased number of prison construction. The growth in prison population show that there is racial disproportion and African American are the biggest victims of war on drugs. The author postulates that if the growth continues in the current rate in 10 years time there will be 6 in every 10 African American hat has been incarcerated a trend that is not something to be happy about. This disproportionate racial imbalance in prison make one race feels that they are being victimized and this leads to hostility among the races. In case of prison violence one race can easily be a target. There are also risky developments whereby the multinational companies are seeing prisoners as a source of cheap labor. The prisoners also see it as an opportunity to earn a source of livelihood. Others who are not prisoners and unemployed would also like to join the rest in prison where there is direct access to employment. With this development there will be a trend whereby this war will just become an industry in its own and not a war to end illegal drug use. More money are being channeled towards the expansion of prison and leaving little to invest in social programs and investment people then become poor and resorting to unjust criminal acts related to drugs ending up in prison. This therefore will mean that the government is investing to support the vicious cycle of poverty. The war on drugs has been an opportunity for politicians to exploit. Each presidential candidate when campaigning, make sweet talks on how they will end war on drugs but when they assume office they do little to counter the vice. They are however quick to blame lack of support from the congress. According to the author the growth of prison industries have been tied with employment opportunities. This is because there are millions of employment opportunities at communities where prisons are located and therefore the policy makers are no longer interested whether their policies succeed because whichever the way there is good for either side. The war on drugs cant not also succeed because according to this chapter it was during the Clinton administration that inmates on drug related charges increased drastically than any other time in history yet it was during the same administration that “tough on crime” measures were but in place. It is also a result of treating drug offence as more heinous than other crimes. Property related offences are treated softer while the drug related are punished with longer prison terms leaving many questions unanswered on the rational used. This long imprisonment is having detrimental effects on the life of ex-prisoner. They cannot find jobs once they are out of prisons and therefore they are left more stressed and resulting to more wearied ways. The research has shown that the ex-prisoners hardly find any job and their life’s are left more miserable. The lack of jobs makes the African Americans not to get married and there is increased bachelorhood in these inner cities. The author also cites women headed families due to lack of increased unemployment among the black men as cause of poverty among children. The effects of this drugs wars on families and society in general is therefore huge. It is true that the increase in unemployment in the United States is due to drug imprisonment. When a prisoner is released there is an ex-convict perception and it becomes very difficult for them to find employment. They therefore resort to low income urban centers in the inner cities. Prisons have also proved not to be the right place for drugs offenders because it is in prison where the aids prevalence has tremendously increased. It is in prison also where there is forced homosexuality and inmates are left off worse in their state than were previously at before being poisoned. The war on drugs should therefore not land someone in prison because other than drugs they will be subjected to other more immoral habits like homosexuality making them worse off than just being a drug user. Reference Latessa, E. & Holsinger, A. (2011). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More