War On Drugs Sociology

It is under popular belief that our criminal justice system today is designed to keep the poor, poor, and the rich, rich. The criminal justice system practically targets the disadvantaged communities of the nation, specifically the African American communities which have the highest incarceration rate out of any other race by a landslide. How do they actually target these communities? Well it all began practically with the Reagan era and the “War on Drugs” which swept the nation, enforcing mandatory minimums for minor drug charges focusing particularly on cocaine in the lesser affluent neighborhoods. In class we have emphasized this, and in the documentary that we viewed in class, 13, expresses the division of our system and how race really …show more content…
Not only this, but as we discussed in class, an educated white man and a formerly incarcerated white man are more likely to get a job before an educated black man, and a formerly incarcerated black man is the least likely of the 4 to receive a job. Being hard on crime makes this situation significantly harder for a black man to make a honest living today. These individuals are constantly being profiled, and with things like stop and frisk and these mandatory minimums, they are essentially sitting ducks just being put in line for the prisons. The War on Drugs destroyed communities. People thought that being hard on crime would result in a decrease in crimes occurring, because the individuals who committed the crimes are locked up and therefore cannot commit more crime. In reality this was not the case whatsoever. What really happened, is as these individuals who were being locked up who could very well have been fathers, brothers or sisters, role models, taxpayers, etc. are being thrown away, which actually resulted in more crime …show more content…
Community Justice Policing is focused around a couple of things. It focuses on restoration, maintaining those who are convicted of crimes within their communities, and purely punitive sanctions. It also contains 3 main elements that consist of a focus on high incarceration places, attention to normals and values in these places, and attempts to improve schools, jobs, and housing in these areas. This kind of policing will drastically reduce the crime rates in these inner cities. I think that focusing on creating jobs would make a significant difference. Giving people legitimate means of work will deter them from committing crimes, because legitimate work has been proven to be more appealing than illegitimate work. Implementing restorative justice would also, instead of incarcerating these individuals who have been hindered with drug addiction, help them find help with their addiction. Instead of using mandatory minimums, it would allow these individuals to get help and become more productive community