Week 5: War on Drugs

When did the controlled Substances Act occur?

1970

When did Nixon declare drug abuse as the public enemy?

1971

When was the Drug Enforcement Agency created?

1973

When was marijuana decriminalized?

mid-1970s

When did Ronald Regan enter office and increase on criminal penalty?

1980s

When did the Anti-Drug Abuse Act come into effect?

1986

Why do politicians care about the War on Drugs?

They use the War on Drugs as a means to continue being elected, if you aren’t hard on drugs you aren’t hard on crime.

What was the ratio to Crack Cocaine vs Powder Cocaine?

1g:100g

What is the implicit racialization of the cocaine ratio?

Black individuals were associated with crack while white individuals were associated with powder. It was a means to enforce greater sentencing on black individuals vs white.

Mass incarceration

used to define the larger web of laws, rules, policies, and customs that control those labeled criminals in and outside of prison

What is the problem with “colorblindness”?

It prevents recognition of mass incarceration due to racialization

True or False: all people use drugs at roughly the same rates?

True

What inmates are disproportionately represented?

black/people of color, they are disproportionately represented due to racialization of drug policy

Drug offenses make up _________ of the federal inmate population.

2/3

Cost bond

defines how it’s harder for people to afford a lawyer and retrieving their property back

Stop & Frisk

term for searches and seizures without warrant and probable cause

What does an officer need to conduct a “stop & frisk”?

only needs to suspect or feel unsafe

What is the trouble with consent?

individuals don’t know that they are allowed to deny an officer permission to stop and frisk. This is troubling because consent can be “overridden” by police.

Operation Pipeline

The police training program designed to encourage and teach officers to use pretext stops; profiles are so broad that they include almost everyone.

How is the War on Drugs funded?

federal offices provided funding to states and local police departments to support drug arrests; the more arrests committed the more money the police station makes

Officers can take up to __________ of material found to fund their office.

80%

What is the point of forfeiture?

the intention is to take away to harbour and sell drugs, however officers can suspect any material to be used for drug purposes and confiscate

3 Strike Laws

Set of laws that dictate after three offenses, doesn’t matter what kinds, results in mandatory life sentencing

plea deal

claiming guilt for hopes of lower sentencing

What do officers do to encourage plea deals?

They can add on additional charges