The U.S. has a big jail problem.
Not only does the United States have the largest incarcerated population in the world, it also has the highest per capita incarcerated population – so it’s not just due to our nation’s size. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the total adult population in the correctional system (which includes jail, parole, prison, and probation) was under 2 million in 1980. In 2016, it was over 6 million.
Our population has increased by about 36% between 1980 and 2017, but the adult correctional population is more than three times bigger. So what happened?
What happened was the War on Drugs. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared that drug abuse was “public enemy number one of the United States” and vowed to crack down on drug offenses – especially minor drug offenses. Decades later, the system’s feeling the strain. At 12%, drug offenses constitute the highest percentage of people arrested in the United States and drug-related arrests have more than doubled since the early 1980s. They’re not cracking down on manufacturers or dealers, the grand majority – 81% of these arrests, are in fact for minor possession.
Nowadays, drug use costs the criminal justice system $56 billion dollars annually, even though the majority of arrests are minor possession charges. On top of that, the recent legalization of marijuana in some states like Colorado and Washington means that people are spending years or even decades in jail for possession of a perfectly legal substance just a few hundred miles away.
While the tide is changing and there are programs like the Drug Policy Alliance that aim to end the effects of the War on Drugs and fight legally for amnesty or reduced sentences against previous offenders, change is slow and long in coming.
Thank you for visiting the Gabriella Young blog, an Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer. We write to inform locals about law changes, events and news.