Effects Of The War On Drugs

Instead of looking at the war on drug as a social problem in America many politicians like the republicans saw it as a criminal issue. Albert Cohan created a theory called Stratus frustration he argues that working class youth believe in the success goals of mainstream culture. Due to constant failures in education, workplace and life they realize they have little opportunities to attain the goals of mainstream culture. This leads many youth to find another form or way to obtain the same material wealth as other people in society ().Behaviorist would say The War on Drugs doesn’t discourage young African American males from seeking illegal careers when denied employment. The illegalities of drugs keep the price and also demand high leaving drug …show more content…
These labels are used for young African American males and were created in the early 80’s by the war on drug campaign. The war on drugs particularly attacked how America viewed black children and their worth in society. The perception created by the war on drugs created a label that black youth are really violent and out of control. The degrading portrayal of the inner black youth subculture as being more violent than past generations has resulted in a corresponding erosion of the rights of minors. (Alexander, 2012) The American politicians passed laws for warrantless searches of homes, stop and frisk, seizure laws and the use of racial profiling. This came after many whites saw the carnage and damage that African Americans caused by selling drugs and the deadly crimes they commit. Many state and federal laws now allow minors as young as thirteen to be tried as adults (Michon, 2013). Before, the war on drugs, the American legal system, did not treat minors as adults. However, American citizen’s acceptance and belief of the portrayal of youth has created fear between adults and minors. Since the creation of the fear of the black youth was created, many politicians failed in solving the drug abuse problem. The promotion of the fear of the young black youth has given adults a sense of relief and escape from handling the real responsibility of the drug …show more content…
Thirty-five percent of all Americans are barred from voting because of felony convictions. African Americans make up 13 percent of the population of disenfranchised voters (Bostis, 2013). These numbers continue to rise as every year more and more African Americans are incarcerated and get trapped in the war on drugs. Today In order to understand the systematic racial prejudice the criminal justice system has towards African Americans we need to examine some important statistics. Based on statistics it shows the American penal system is loaded with African Americans and minorities. It’s a fact that blacks commit crimes at the same rate as their white counter parts, but they make up 58% of the prison population when including Hispanics (Manon,2013). Just like Jim Crow and the black codes mass incarceration is a systematic racial system used to regulate and dehumanize African Americans and minorities. Many mass incarceration advocates declare mass incarceration as the new Jim Crow. When examining the criminal procedure in America there is no doubt that the system is tough on African Americans and minorities. The war on drugs and The American Legal system continues to hurt largely African Americans just like how Jim Crow affected African Americans. Racial profiling became allowed inadvertently by the Supreme Court and their rulings on the