DOCSLIB.ORG

POSITION PAPER: Race and the War on Drugs

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
POSITION PAPER: Race and the War on Drugs POSITION PAPER: Race and the War on Drugs number blacks five to one and color have been a primary target WITH OUR HISTORY both groups use and sell drugs at of anti-drug policies and rhetoric. of racial injustice, the similar rates,2 African-Americans Beginning in the early 1900s, United States cannot comprise: drug warriors invoked the image and should not tolerate of black men high on drugs to laws that systematically • 35% of those arrested for pass the nation’s earliest drug target communities drug possession; laws.8 By 1930, 16 western states of color. Yet, this is • 55% of those convicted for prohibited marijuana as a way to precisely the outcome drug possession; and target the growing Mexican com- of the current War on • 74% of those imprisoned munity that had flooded the U.S. 3 9 Drugs. Even though for drug possession. job market. In 1951, the Boggs drugs remain as Act established stringent nar- This skewed enforcement cotics penalties in response to the available as ever, we of drug laws has a devastating threat of “communist opium” are continuing policies impact. One in three black men from Asia.10 In 1973, with a man- that have a devastating between the ages of 20 and 29 are date from the public to “get tough effect on African- currently either on probation, on crime,” New York enacted the American and Latino parole, or in prison. One in five Rockefeller drug laws, requiring communities. The time black men have been convicted severe prison terms for drug has come to reverse of a felony. In seven states, crimes regardless of circum- course in a disastrous, between 80% and 90% of prison- stance. A quarter century later, ineffective, and racist ers serving time for drug offenses 94% of all people in prison in WAR ON DRUGS. are black.4 New York state on drug charges The statistics for the Latino are black or Latino.11 population are equally disturb- By the 1980s, the link Who’s Who in the Criminal ing. Latinos comprise 12.5% of between minorities, drugs, and Justice System the population5 and use and sell crime was firmly cemented in Today, black males have a drugs less than whites,6 yet they American rhetoric and embodied 29% chance of serving time in accounted for 46% of those in President Reagan’s revamped prison at some point in their charged with a federal drug “War on Drugs.” Media hysteria lives, Latino males have a 16% offense in 1999.7 about an unsubstantiated crack chance, and white males have a epidemic amongst blacks 4% chance.1 How Did We Get Here? prompted Congress to pass dra- Even though whites out- Historically, people of conian mandatory minimum sen- DRUG POLICY LITIGATION PROJECT tencing laws against crack 1998, 51,000 people were select- cocaine. Penalties against pow- ed for body searches ranging U.S. DRUG der cocaine – the same drug but from hand frisks to strip-searches typically associated with white by immigration officials at cus- POLICIES users – remained relatively light. toms checkpoints. 96% of those THROUGHOUT Even though most crack users searches yielded nothing; two- and dealers are white, this “crack thirds of the people selected were THE YEARS equals black” formula distorted black or Latino.17 prosecutions. By 2001, over On the streets of our cities, 1870s – After building the 80% of federal crack defendants young minorities are routinely railroads, the Chinese were were black.12 stopped for Terry frisks, named viewed as a glut on the labor after a Supreme Court ruling stat- market. As anti-Chinese • Possession of 500 grams of ing that police do not need a war- sentiment grew, the San POWDER cocaine results rant or even probable cause to Francisco Opium Ordinance in a 5-year prison term. stop and search individuals as punished opium smokers, • Possession of 5 grams of long as there exists a reasonable the majority of whom were CRACK cocaine results in cause for suspicion. In New York Chinese. a 5-year prison term.13 City, between 1998 and 1999, the police recorded 45,000 such 1914 – The Harrison Narcotic Law enforcement practices stops, 35,000 of which yielded Act regulated the manufac- fuel racial inequalities in the nothing. Two-thirds of the people ture of narcotics. However, criminal justice system. Over the selected were black and Latino.18 law enforcement used the years, the Drug Enforcement A very clear incentive law to arrest physicians for Administration (DEA) has exists for police departments to prescribing narcotics. helped train police to profile engage in racial profiling. Civil 1930 – By 1915, over 500,000 highway travelers for potential asset forfeiture laws allow police Mexicans had flooded the drug couriers.14 This profile is to seize and sell property without U.S. border and job market, based on associating people of proving its guilt and keep a por- bringing marijuana with color with crime, creating a phe- tion of the assets for themselves. them. In response to growing nomenon known as “driving In fact, police departments are anti-Mexican sentiment, by while black or brown.” In now dependent on forfeiture rev- 1930, 16 western states Maryland, for instance, although enues in order to match funds for had prohibited the sale or only 21% of drivers along a federal grants and for regular possession of marijuana. stretch of Interstate 95 are operational costs, including the minorities including blacks, salaries of the very police offi- 1951 – America was warned Latinos, Asians, and others, 80% cers that are responsible for the that the real menace was not of those who are pulled over and seizures.19 By targeting minority communist troops, but rather searched are people of color.15 In communities whose voices and communist opium. In California, between 80% and political power are marginalized, response, the U.S. quickly 90% of all motorists arrested by law enforcement agencies can passed the Boggs Act, law enforcement officials since exploit the power of forfeiture establishing the most 1991 have been members of without many Americans ever stringent narcotics penalties minority groups.16 These statis- learning of the practice. in U.S. history. tics are not the product of chance, In addition to these prac- 1970 – Civil asset forfeiture but of purpose and can be found tices, overzealous local prosecu- laws allow police to seize throughout the country. tors and judges with minimal “guilty” property from ➤ But racial profiling is not discretion in the sentencing just limited to our highways. In process exacerbate the situation. RACE AND THE WAR ON DRUGS Texas, for instance, has seen likely to be drug tested or many racial exploits related to reported to child welfare agen- ➤ citizens who have not been the War on Drugs. In the rural cies than white women. Before convicted of, or even charged town of Tulia in 1999, 12% of this practice was struck down by with, a crime. the adult male African-American the Supreme Court, one public population was arrested on drug hospital in South Carolina selec- 1973 – New York passed the charges based solely on the word tively drug tested pregnant black Rockefeller Drug Laws, of an undercover officer who women and reported positive some of the harshest drug offered no hard evidence. In tests to police who then arrested penalties in the U.S. As a 2000, 15% of young black males them, forcing many to give birth result, blacks and Latinos in the town of Hearne were in shackles before taking them currently comprise about arrested in a drug sweep based to jail.23 94% of the drug offenders in solely on the word of an inform- The effects drug war poli- New York state prisons. ant who had agreed to implicate cies have on children are devas- 1982 – President Ronald targeted individuals. All of these tating. Today, 1.6 million chil- Reagan launched the “War on men were innocent. Just one year dren have a father in prison and Drugs,” a political campaign later, dozens of Mexicans and 200,000 children have a mother to gain voter support by Mexican-Americans were arrest- in prison. Black children are “getting tough on drugs.” ed in what has been dubbed as nearly 9 times more likely, and the “Dallas Sheetrock Scandal.” Latino children 3 times more 1984 – The Sentencing Tests later showed that some of likely to have a parent in prison Reform Act removes judges’ drugs in question were really than white children.24 Children, discretion in the sentencing ground-up sheet-rock, planted by too, are trapped within the crimi- process. informants.20 nal justice system. Though youth of all races use and sell drugs at 1986-1988 – The Anti-Drug Women and Children similar rates, minority youth rep- Abuse Act imposes harsh Women as mothers, girl- resent 60% to 75% of drug sentences for crack cocaine friends, wives, and individuals arrests today. In fact, black youth possession, while powder are especially vulnerable to drug are incarcerated 25 times the rate cocaine remains a lower war injustices. Many women are of white youth; Latino youth, 13 offense. Additionally, a “one- coerced into the drug trade by a times the rate of their white strike” law allows public boyfriend or husband, often play counterparts.25 housing officials to evict only a small role, but then residents if drugs are found receive the same harsh prison Collateral Consequences anywhere on the premise, terms. Between 1986 and 1996, The War on Drugs does even if the residents are the number of women incarcer- more than fill our prisons. Drug unaware of the drug use or ated for drug offenses increased war policies permeate every facet try to stop it.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • What Do the War on Drugs and Welfare Reform Have in Common?
    The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 41 Issue 1 March Article 2 2014 Pathologies of the Poor: What do the War on Drugs and Welfare Reform Have in Common? Kalynn Amundson University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, [email protected] Anna M. Zajicek University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Valerie H. Hunt University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw Part of the Public Policy Commons, Social Policy Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Amundson, Kalynn; Zajicek, Anna M.; and Hunt, Valerie H. (2014) "Pathologies of the Poor: What do the War on Drugs and Welfare Reform Have in Common?," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 41 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol41/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you by the Western Michigan University School of Social Work. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pathologies of the Poor: What do the War on Drugs and Welfare Reform Have in Common? KALYNN AMUNDSON Public Policy Ph D Program University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ANNA M. ZAJICEK Department of Sociology University of Arkansas, Fayetteville VALERIE H. HUNT Public Policy Ph D Program University of Arkansas, Fayetteville The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconcilia- tion Act of 1996 (PRWORA) authorized drug testing of welfare recipients as a criterion for assistance eligibility. This raises the question of a possible confluence of War on Drugs and Welfare Reform policies, as indicated by continuity in policymakers’ rheto- ric. We examine federal-level policymakers’ debates surrounding the authorization of drug testing welfare recipients.
    [Show full text]
  • War on Drugs": Free the P.O.W.S
    California Western Law Review Volume 55 Number 1 Article 8 12-20-2018 The Sobering Failure of America's "War on Drugs": Free the P.O.W.s Meagan K. Nettles Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr Recommended Citation Nettles, Meagan K. (2018) "The Sobering Failure of America's "War on Drugs": Free the P.O.W.s," California Western Law Review: Vol. 55 : No. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr/vol55/iss1/8 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by CWSL Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in California Western Law Review by an authorized editor of CWSL Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Nettles: The Sobering Failure of America's "War on Drugs": Free the P.O.W FINAL Nettles camera ready (Do Not Delete) 1/8/2019 10:26 AM COMMENTS THE SOBERING FAILURE OF AMERICA’S “WAR ON DRUGS”: FREE THE P.O.W.S TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 276 I. THE EVOLUTION OF SENTENCING POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES ................................................................................... 282 A. The Development of Indeterminate Sentencing and the Rehabilitative Model ......................................................... 282 B. The Shift to Determinative Sentencing with a Punitive Purpose ............................................................................. 284 C. The Ebb and Flow of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Policy and the War on Drugs............................................ 286 D. Tension Between Judicial, Congressional, and the Commission’s Power to Determine Drug Crime Sentencing ......................................................................... 289 E. How Punitive Are Mandatory Minimum Sentences? ......... 292 F. Second Class Citizens: The Continued Oppression of Collateral Consequences .................................................. 294 II.
    [Show full text]
  • Role of Gender and Relationship in Reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws
    THE ROLE OF GENDER AND RELATIONSHIP IN REFORMING THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS EDA KATHARINE TINTO* In recent years, New York's drug sentencing laws-the Rockefeller Drug Laws- have come under attack due to their failure to reduce drug use despite the growing prisonpopulation. The political and academic communities now are debating how best to reform these laws. In this Note, Eda Tinto highlights the absence of a much- needed discussion regarding the sentencing of certain women drug offenders. Qualitative studies have demonstrated that an underlying context of many women's drug crimes is their involvement in an intimate relationship with a partner who uses or sells drugs. Tinto argues that these women drug offenders are often less blame- worthy than other offenders and that therefore the sentences for their crimes are often unjust. Tinto concludes that the context of an intimate relationshipshould be acknowledged in sentencing and proposes reforms of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. INTRODUCTION In 1973, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller successfully urged the passage of the most punitive drug laws in the country.1 The "Rockefeller Drug Laws" (the Laws) removed the discretion tradi- tionally afforded to judges in sentencing individual offenders and forced judges to sentence drug offenders to extremely long prison terms. 2 While the enactment of the Laws signaled the beginning of * I would like to thank Professor Anthony Thompson, my family, and my friends for their continual guidance and support for this Note and, more importantly, in life. I also would like to thank the staff of the New York University Law Review, especially Dave McTaggart, Maggie Lemos, Janet Carter, and Michael Kasdan.
    [Show full text]
  • Is It Time to Change the Rockefeller Drug Laws?
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by St. John's University School of Law Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development Volume 13 Issue 3 Volume 13, Spring 1999, Issue 3 Article 6 March 1999 Is it Time to Change the Rockefeller Drug Laws? Spiros A. Tsimbinos Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/jcred Recommended Citation Tsimbinos, Spiros A. (1999) "Is it Time to Change the Rockefeller Drug Laws?," Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development: Vol. 13 : Iss. 3 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/jcred/vol13/iss3/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development by an authorized editor of St. John's Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IS IT TIME TO CHANGE THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS? SPIROS A. TSIMBINOS* I. INTRODUCTION When the current New York State Penal Law1 went into effect in 1965, the provisions dealing with drug offenses were brief and sim- ple. The penalties for these crimes were moderate sentences, in keeping with the general philosophy that non-violent crimes should be treated less severely than those involving violent conduct.2 In the late 1960's and early 1970's, however, as our cities became plagued by the scourge of drug abuse, the public clamored for an- swers to the problem. In New York State, Governor Rockefeller and the Legislature responded by enacting the toughest drug laws in the nation.
    [Show full text]
  • Sharks and Minnows in the War on Drugs: a Study of Quantity, Race and Drug Type in Drug Arrests
    Sharks and Minnows in the War on Drugs: A Study of Quantity, Race and Drug Type in Drug Arrests Joseph E. Kennedy,†* Isaac Unah,** & Kasi Wahlers*** Conventional wisdom has it that in the war on drugs you have to catch small fish in order to catch big fish. But what if the vast majority of drug arrests were for very small fish, and disproportionately brown ones at that? This Article is the first to conclusively establish that the war on drugs is being waged primarily against those possessing or selling minuscule amounts of drugs. Two out of three drug offenders arrested by non-federal law enforcement possess or sell a gram or less at the time of arrest. Furthermore, about 40% of arrests for hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and meth/amphetamine are for trace amounts — a quarter of a gram or less. These findings are the result of a first of its kind study of drug arrest data from National Incident-Based Reporting System (“NIBRS”) that analyzed all drug arrests reported for the years 2004, 2008, and 2012. The resulting data set contained over a million cases, and useable quantity data was found in over 700,000 cases, making this study the most comprehensive study of drug arrest quantity undertaken to date by orders of magnitude. † Copyright © 2018 Joseph E. Kennedy, Isaac Unah & Kasi Wahlers. This project benefited greatly from helpful suggestions by Noah Painter Davis, Carissa Hessick, Eisha Jain, Richard Myers, Lauren Ouziel, Jocelyn Simpson, and Ron Wright. Workshop participants at the Neighborhood Criminal Law workshop at William and Mary School of Law in May of 2016 and at the AALS Criminal Law Conference in Washington D.C.
    [Show full text]
  • The Bush Administration and the War on Drugs: an Exploratory Weaverian
    Eastern Illinois University The Keep Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications 1990 The uB sh Administration and the War on Drugs: An Exploratory Weaverian Rhetorical Analysis of Ultimate Terms and Arguments as Weapons in the War on Drugs James R. Conley Eastern Illinois University This research is a product of the graduate program in Speech Communication at Eastern Illinois University. Find out more about the program. Recommended Citation Conley, James R., "The ushB Administration and the War on Drugs: An Exploratory Weaverian Rhetorical Analysis of Ultimate Terms and Arguments as Weapons in the War on Drugs" (1990). Masters Theses. 2291. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/2291 This is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THESIS REPRODUCTION CERTIFICATE TO: Graduate Degree Candidates who have written formal theses. SUBJECT: Permission to reproduce theses. The University Library is receiving a number of requests from other institutions asking permission to reproduce dissertations for inclusion in their library holdings. Although no copyright laws are involved, we feel that professional courtesy demands that permission be obtained from the author before we allow theses to be copied. Please sign one of the following statements: Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University has my permission to lend my thesis to a reputable college or university for the purpose of copying it for inclusion in that institution's library or research holdings. Date I respectfully request Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University not allow my thesis be reproduced because ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date Author ffl The Bush Administration and the War on Drugs: An Exploratory Weaverian Rhetorical Analysis of Ultimate Terms and Arguments as Weapons in the War on Drugs (llTLE) BY James R.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sing Sing Revolt the Incarceration Crisis and Criminal Justice Liberalism in the 1980S
    The Sing Sing Revolt The Incarceration Crisis and Criminal Justice Liberalism in the 1980s Lee Bernstein As 1983 began, New York’s prisons reached a chokepoint: in the past decade the inmate population went from 12,444 to 27,943. Mario Cuomo, who would become the nation’s most prominent liberal politician after delivering the keynote address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, prepared to take the oath of office to become the state’s fifty-second governor.1 Corrections officials scrambled to find beds for four hundred new people each week in crumbling facilities and repurposed public buildings. This overcrowding occurred, to different degrees, throughout the system—city and county jails, juvenile facilities, and in state-run facilities variously classified minimum, medium, and maximum security. Multi- ple factors converged to create this overcrowding, including the war on drugs, the victims’ rights movement, and new “truth in sentencing” laws.2 In addition, declining tax revenues and the economic struggles of the state’s voters limited the state’s ability to fund new prison construction and to accommodate the educational, therapeutic, and social needs of its bur- geoning prison population. Access to basic needs like warm clothing, blankets, and mail became constrained. The Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) was character- ized by laughably inadequate grievance procedures, insufficiently staffed facilities, anemic responses to ongoing labor-management disputes, rifts between uniformed and civilian employees, and failure to address racist and sexist barriers to fair treatment for employees and the incarcerated population. Recent memory generated a foreboding sense of where all this would lead.
    [Show full text]
  • Rockefeller Drug Law Reform
    NEW YORK STATE SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON ALCOHOLISM & DRUG ABUSE Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, Chair Assessing the Effectiveness of Substance Abuse Treatment Under Rockefeller Drug Law Reform February 2012 Introduction On April 2, 2009, the State Legislature passed ground-breaking legislation that effectively swept away an entire era of notoriously harsh drug sentencing schemes known as the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The 2009 reform caused a major change in New York’s drug policy, shifting it away from mass incarceration and toward a public health model. The two most fundamental pieces included in the legislation were an elimination of mandatory minimum sentences, and restoration of judicial discretion to order treatment and rehabilitation as an alternative to incarceration. Two years have passed since these reforms were implemented, and the questions that need to be answered are: have they been successful? Are drug offenders truly being given the treatment they need, and is this treatment producing better outcomes than incarceration as the reforms intended? In order to determine the effectiveness of the 2009 Drug Law Reform (DLR), Senator Jeffrey Klein, Chair of the Senate Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Committee, gathered first-hand information from treatment providers across the State. In collaboration with the New York Association of Substance Abuse Providers (ASAP), an online survey was circulated to ASAP’s membership of 250+ alcoholism and drug treatment providers. The purpose of this survey was to determine whether treatment providers were seeing an increase in the number of patients referred from the criminal justice system, and if so, whether these providers have the capacity and resources to support all clients coming into their program for treatment to overcome their dependency and lead healthy and productive lives.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rockefeller Drug Laws: Unjust, Irrational, Ineffective
    The Rockefeller Drug Laws: Unjust, Irrational, Ineffective A Call for a Public Health Approach to Drug Policy 125 Broad St. New York, NY 10004 212.607.3300 www.nyclu.org CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION: NEW YORK’S JIM CROW LAWS ........3 II. THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS: UNJUST, IRRATIONAL, INEFFECTIVE ...................5 III. THE HARMS ...................................11 IV. MAPPING OF INJUSTICE .........................17 V. PARADIGM SHIFT ...............................30 VI. MOVING TOWARDS A PUBLIC HEALTH MODEL: RECOMMENDATIONS ...............................36 THE NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION The Rockefeller Drug Laws │ Unjust, Irrational, Ineffective 2 I. INTRODUCTION: NEW YORK’S JIM CROW LAWS here has emerged over the last decade a broad consensus among policy experts, criminal justice scholars and lawmakers that the War on Drugs, with its singular emphasis on incarceration, has failed. In 1993, on the 20th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, New York State Corrections Commis- T 1 sioner Thomas Coughlin, III, said the state was “lock[ing] up the wrong people … for the wrong reasons.” Former Republican state senator John Dunne was a sponsor of the state’s mandatory sentencing scheme for drug offenses. He subsequently organized a coalition that has advocated for fundamental reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. In 2004 he observed, in a television spot, “the Rockefeller Drug Laws have been a well-documented failure.”2 Yet, as the 36th anniversary of these laws approaches, the state continues locking up the wrong people for the wrong reasons. This report presents and marshals the empirical evidence that demonstrates New York’s mandatory-min- imum drug sentencing scheme has failed, utterly, to accomplish its stated objectives.
    [Show full text]
  • Three Reasons to Re-Evaluate the Rockefeller Drug Laws Susan Herman
    Brooklyn Law School BrooklynWorks Faculty Scholarship 2000 Measuring Culpability by Measuring Drugs? Three Reasons to Re-evaluate the Rockefeller Drug Laws Susan Herman Follow this and additional works at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/faculty Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, and the Other Law Commons Recommended Citation 63 Alb. L. Rev. 777 (2000) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by BrooklynWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of BrooklynWorks. MEASURING CULPABILITY BY MEASURING DRUGS? THREE REASONS TO REEVALUATE THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS Susan N. Herman* The so-called Rockefeller drug laws,1 enacted in 1973, have been New York's principal weapon in the war against drugs for the past three decades. The statutory design, like the reasoning upon which it rests, is simple and straightforward. The legislature chose to impose lengthy and frequently mandatory sentences for possession and distribution of controlled substances, on the assumption that harsh and certain punishment would deter and reduce drug abuse and related crime. 2 Under this system, drug offenses are graded according to the dangerousness and the quantity of the drug involved. 3 Dangerousness of a drug is determined by consulting * Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School. B.A., Barnard College, 1968; J.D., New York University, 1974. The author would like to thank Paul Gangsei and David Yassky for their helpful comments, Chris Fowler for his excellent research assistance, Jim Peluso for his extraordinary efforts in coordinating this symposium, and Brooklyn Law School for the continuing support of its research stipend program.
    [Show full text]
  • Examining the Effect of Drug Law on the New York State Prison Industrial Complex
    Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 5-1-2010 The Commodification of the Modern Black Man: Examining the Effect of Drug Law on the New York State Prison Industrial Complex Alexis Kinney Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the Human Geography Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, and the Other Geography Commons Recommended Citation Kinney, Alexis, "The Commodification of the Modern Black Man: Examining the ffE ect of Drug Law on the New York State Prison Industrial Complex" (2010). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 404. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/404 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This Capstone project examines the effect of New York State’s prison industrial complex on local economies. The prison industrial complex is a system of imprisonment that, through various methods, transforms prisoners into commodities. The complex involves endorsing legislation to create more crimes and longer sentences for those crimes, thus increasing the number, and term length, of incarcerated citizens. In New York, the creation of the Rockefeller drug laws resulted in a revitalized diligence in the war against drugs, leading to the promotion of prisoner- based upstate economies. Through engagement with United States drugs laws, historical accounts of drug use and addiction, and statistical analysis and research in regards to race, wealth, gender, and drug use this Capstone provides original maps that illustrate the racist nature of the Rockefeller drug laws, New York’s main drug law set, and the spatial organization of the prison system itself.
    [Show full text]
  • War on Drugs: Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy
    WAR ON DRUGS REPORT OF THE GLOBAL COMMISSION ON DRUG POLICY JUNE 2011 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS GLOBAL COMMISSION Asma Jahangir, human rights activist, former UN Special Rapporteur on Arbitrary, Extrajudicial and ON DRUG POLICY Summary Executions, Pakistan Carlos Fuentes, writer and public intellectual, Mexico César Gaviria, former President of Colombia Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of To learn more about the Commission, visit: Brazil (chair) www.globalcommissionondrugs.org George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece Or email: [email protected] George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State, United States (honorary chair) Javier Solana, former European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Spain John Whitehead, banker and civil servant, chair of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, United States Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, Ghana Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, President of the International Crisis Group, Canada Maria Cattaui, Petroplus Holdings Board member, former Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce, Switzerland Mario Vargas Llosa, writer and public intellectual, Peru Marion Caspers-Merk, former State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Health Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, France Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve and of the Economic Recovery Board Richard Branson, entrepreneur, advocate for social causes, founder of the Virgin Group, co-founder of The Elders, United Kingdom Ruth Dreifuss, former President of Switzerland and Minister of Home Affairs Thorvald Stoltenberg, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Norway EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The global war on drugs has failed, with Our principles and recommendations can devastating consequences for individuals be summarized as follows: and societies around the world.
    [Show full text]