.: Global Justice News

News2020.com for the latest sceptical slant on the 'Drugs War' lunacy. Bringing together the most relevant third party news feeds, we hope you choose to bookmark News2020.com now. Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn:

'cannabis heads'
Abc.net.au
April 2nd 2007

A 60-year-old Traralgon man will face court today charged with a string of drugs offences. Harold Willis was remanded in custody over the weekend after police searched a house in Little Crescent, Traralgon on Friday. It is alleged police found $30,000 in cash and three plastic bags cannabis heads at the house. Police allege the cannabis has a street value of $16,000. The defendant is charged with trafficking, using and possessing drugs and possessing the proceeds of crime. He will face the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court at Morwell today.

The biggest U.S. threat: dying marijuana users
Andy Nicewicz
Rocky Mountain Collegian
March 22nd 20007

Reading The Denver Post last Thursday, I noticed a small blurb about Angel Raich, a 41-year-old mother of two from Oakland, Calif., who suffers from scoliosis, a brain tumor, chronic nausea and other ailments. According to her doctor, medical marijuana is the only thing keeping her alive.
Sadly, a federal appeals court ruled last Wednesday that she can still be charged with federal drug charges.
It’s very unfortunate, especially for people who are suffering like Angel Raich, that the government chooses to ignore the evidence that marijuana can actually help people. One study done by the Institute of Medicine in 1999 found that ‘’the accumulated data indicate a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation.'’
Numerous other reputable organizations have also endorsed the use of marijuana for medical purposes (see www.drugwarfacts.org).

Opponents of medical marijuana still claim there hasn’t been enough research on the subject to legitimize making marijuana available to patients. Ironically, this is because marijuana is categorized by the government as a ‘’Schedule I Substance,'’ which defines marijuana as having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in the United States and a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision. It’s sort of a Catch-22. Because marijuana is a Schedule I Substance, many restrictions are placed on research, and because there are these restrictions, it’s exceedingly difficult to provide ‘’sufficient'’ evidence to remove marijuana from the Schedule I category.

At any rate, the federal government has chosen to use its rather limited resources to charge Angel Raich with drug charges. The federal government has many purposes and duties, but investigating, arresting and trying dying mothers using our tax dollars certainly shouldn’t be one of them. Moreover, the federal government’s involvement in medical marijuana cases in California raises questions of Constitutional validity.

The United States was founded as a federal system, meaning that states are granted some manor of autonomy from the national government to make their own laws. In California, where Raich resides, medical marijuana is legal (the same is true in Colorado). However, it is illegal under federal law. Under the U.S. Constitution, the national government only has powers granted to it expressed in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution. Under the 10th Amendment, all other powers are granted to the States. The federal appeals court involved in this case cited Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Commerce Clause, to justify the national government’s interference in the affairs of California. The Commerce Clause says that the national government has the power to regulate commerce between states, but applying this to a person who gets her cannabis from private care-givers from inside California, as Raich did, is questionable at best.

Whatever the federal government’s reasons for its involvement, this woman is dying, and the government is taking away the thing that can help her live. I remember when Terry Schiavo was going to be taken off life support. There were protests, huge amounts of media coverage, and the involv ement of various elected officials on her behalf, including President Bush.
So where are the religious leaders now, preaching about the sanctity of life and the duty to help those in need? Where are the politicians introducing new legislation and condemning acts of heartlessness? But I suppose in the war on drugs, enemies like Angel Raich pose one of the biggest threats to the United States, right?

The couple’s school-age children were placed in the care of the Ministry of Children and Families...
Nanaimobulletin.com
March 16th 2007

A married couple sought in connection with a marijuana grow-op on Uplands Drive have turned themselves in. A 46-year-old Nanaimo man and his 33-year-old wife both showed up within hours of each other at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment over the night of March 8-9. RCMP are recommending charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking and cultivation of cannabis. No names were released.
The two will make their first court appearance June 5. RCMP pulled 265 marijuana plants and a quantity of growing equipment and supplies from their Uplands Drive home March 8. The couple’s school-age children were placed in the care of the Ministry of Children and Families.
It isn’t known whether the children have been reunited with their family – privacy legislation prevents the ministry from commenting on specific cases.

'an illegal drug laboratory'
Abc.net.au
March 8th 2007

Three men have been charged with a string of drug offences after a series of police raids across the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Police swooped on several properties in Kenilworth yesterday and allegedly discovered about 60 cannabis plants, an illegal drug laboratory and items used to produce large quantities of amphetamines. A 27-year-old Kenilworth man and a 40-year-old New Farm man are due to appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court today on numerous drug charges. A 19-year-old man was also charged with assaulting police.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Mangalorean.com
March 8th 2007

Pune,India: Five more people were arrested Wednesday in connection with a rave party held near this city over the weekend and a large quantity of prohibited drugs and cash were seized from them.Seven kilograms of cannabis leaves and four kilograms of marijuana, besides Rs.350,000 in cash and five mobile phone handsets, were seized from the three held in Yervada. The prohibited drugs, albeit in a smaller quantity, 10 china clay cigars and two mobile phones were found with the women.
While three of the five accused - Ankush Babiya Singh, Anil Suresh Abhange and Deepak Gaikwad - are residents of Yervada, the two women - Zora Mustaq Sheikh and Ashrafi Fazal Mehboob Sheikh - are slum-dwellers from the Kondva Khurd area in city outskirts.
Singh has already spent 10 years in the Yervada jail after a conviction under the same Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act that he faces again. He apparently took to drug peddling again after his release in 2003, More Psychotropic Substances.....

"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court"
Independent.co.uk
March 7th 2007

A grandmother who advocates cooking with cannabis was found guilty of growing and possessing the drug by a jury who deliberated for just 15 minutes today.
Patricia Tabram, 68, was in breach of a six-month suspended jail sentence when police, acting on a tip-off, found four plants growing in a wardrobe at her bungalow in Humshaugh, Northumberland, in September 2005. They also found powdered cannabis in a jar next to her cooker.
The jury heard Tabram's claims that she used cannabis to ease her depression, as well as aches and pains she still suffers from two car crashes.
The jury of six men and six women came back with unanimous guilty verdicts for the two counts, one of possessing the drug and one of cultivating it. Judge Barbara Forrester postponed sentencing to a later date so reports can be prepared. Tabram, who is defending herself, told the court: "I am old and I am tired, and I am disappointed, not in the result by the jury.
"I am disappointed in the attitude of the court regarding someone my age with my health problems and the way I deal with it. Full Disappointed....

'clearly under the influence of drugs'
Yourguide.com.au
March 8th 2007

A young chap who grew cannabis on his parent's Shelbourne property trafficked 15pounds of the
drug within one year, a court heard yesterday. Daniel Webb, 21, pleaded guilty to nine charges in the Bendigo Magistrates Court, including trafficking, cultivating and possessing cannabis. Police found a hydroponic growing room in a tool shed when they raided his family's Nixons Road property on September 5 last year. Police prosecutor Senior Constable Mark Snell said police found three mature cannabis plants,
They also found seven separate amounts of cannabis, cannabis seeds, scales and tubs of cannabis butter when they searched a unit Webb shared with his brother. It was claimed a variety of weapons, including swords, double-edged knives, a slingshot and baton, were also found.
While police were conducting the search, a man Webb knew arrived at the property and police established he was there for the purpose of purchasing cannabis, said Sen-Constable Snell. The court heard Webb was interviewed at the Bendigo Police Station the following day and was clearly under the influence of drugs...Full Influence....

'it takes about Rs 5,000 to grow 15-20 plants'
Telegraphindia.com
March 5th 2007

Krishnagar, March 5th: Weeks after stumbling upon hundreds of schoolteachers who had cannabis growing on their land, Nadia police have arrested one of them.
Police said Prahlad Mondal of Dhananjaypur Upper Primary School in Nakashipara, 130 km from Calcutta, did not pay any heed to the warnings of the district administration, which has been running an awareness campaign against the cultivation of cannabis.
The Telegraph had reported on February 14 that the police had found cannabis plants in the backyards of at least 500 primary school teachers. Ganja worth over Rs 20 crore has been destroyed during the crackdown launched in January. The cultivation is banned under the Prevention of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Many of the teachers had pleaded ignorance about the crop being cultivated on their land by hired workers or sharecroppers. But the police said many were into it for fast money. A full-grown hemp plant fetches between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000. It takes about Rs 5,000 to grow 15-20 plants, Full Grow......

Punjab is emerging as the new hub for smuggling
Zeenews.com
March 6th 2007

New Delhi, Punjab is emerging as the new hub for smuggling drugs into the country, a development attributed by the report of a UN body to the increase in cross-border movement between India and Pakistan.
Most of the drugs, particularly heroin, that are smuggled into India through Punjab are subsequently taken to New Delhi or Mumbai, traditional trafficking hubs, before being ferried further to other countries, the report said.

"Evidence suggests that Punjab has been emerging as a new hub for smuggling drugs into India," the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report for 2006 on drug abuse.
"This recent development appears to be connected with the increase in the licit and illicit cross-border flow of goods and persons between India and Pakistan," INCB, an independent and quasi-judicial body of the UN international drug control committee, said. This accounts for over one-third of India`s total volume of cannabis seizures of 144 tonnes, it said. More Movement..

‘rave’ is to ‘talk wildly, as in delirium.’
Dnaindia.com
March 6th 2007

The dictionary meaning of the word ‘rave’ is to ‘talk wildly, as in delirium.’ For a younger crowd, substitute dance, for talk. Though the rave party concept is old, even prehistoric by today’s standards, since it began in the 1960s, it continues to appeal to the hip youngsters of today for its mixture of a mood of abandon, electronic music and sadly, drugs.

Rave parties are quite common in parts of Goa, and in and around Mumbai too and occasionally, when the police gets to know of them, they get busted, as happened over the weekend. The Pune cops walked in, disguised as party goers, and arrested nearly 300 youngsters from different parts of the country.

It’s interesting to note that the cyber and economic crimes cell of the police picked up information on the party, since the word on the rave had been spread through a website. Even more intriguing is the fact that the party took place on Holi weekend, when Indian revelers traditionally imbibe bhang, a derivative of the cannabis or hemp plant.

As it always tends to happen, whenever a rave party is raided, reports tell us that among those who were arrested were call centre employees, air hostesses and students. The sub-text is clearly that these are the ‘types’ who routinely go in for such degenerate events and take drugs.

Let us look at the big picture here. The main drugs caught were marijuana, hashish, charas and ganja, all derivatives of hemp. A few synthetic party drugs were also found, Full Rave....

.: The News from Drug Policy Central

Stop the Drug War (DRCNet) - Incarceration

Free Seminar to Become a Mentor to Prison Artists
Start: 2008/09/27 - 1:00pm End: 2008/09/27 - 5:00pm Start: 2008/09/27 - 1:00pm End: 2008/09/27 - 5:00pm

Thanks to a grant we received from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Prisons Foundation throughout the year has been conducting free all-day workshops for individuals who wish to become a mentor to imprisoned artists. We are now having our last workshop--a wrap up one that's just half a day long--and invite all to attend, whether or not you have been to a previous workshop. This summary workshop will feature the highlights of previous workshops. The workshop is free and refreshments will be served. It is ideal for anyone who attended any of the previous workshops as well as for new participants who seek to work either as a volunteer or paid staff member in a jail or prison.

Attend this free workshop on Saturday, September 27, 1 to 5 pm. You'll learn what it takes to work in a jail or prison to foster artistic development among inmates. You'll receive this valuable training from experienced correctional officials (from both public and private jails) who have made presentations at our previous seminars. The highlights of their presentations will be show on video. You will also benefit from the insights and knowledge of ex-prisoner artists who will serve as workshop leaders. These knowledgeable people will share their experiences with you in a relaxed and fun setting at the Prison Art Gallery in downtown Washington, DC.

This is a rare opportunity to make contacts and obtain valuable information. You can be part of it all. Whether you're looking for a one afternoon per month volunteer opportunity or a full-time paid career position, you will find this workshop very worthwhile.

Please call us at 202-393-1511 or email staff@PrisonsFoundation.org to reserve your spot or for more information. Thank you.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, September 15, 2008
Contact: LaWanda Johnson, (202) 558-7974x308; cell:(202) 320-1029

Violent Crime Fell in 2007; Areas with lower incarceration rates experienced greater crime reductions

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Violent crime in the United States fell by 1.4 percent in 2007, according to an analysis released today by the Justice Policy Institute. The analysis, which is based on findings in the 2007 FBI Uniform Crime Report released today, finds that the drop in crime came at a time when the prison and jail growth rates fell from previous years. The analysis concluded that regions with the lowest incarceration rates also experienced the largest drops in violent crime.

The number of violent and property crimes fell in three of the four regions of the country. The northeast region experienced the greatest drop in violent crime, and also has the lowest incarceration rates in the country. The southern region has the highest incarceration rates and witnessed a rise in violent crimes--the only part of the country to not experience a drop in crime. Furthermore, as the growth rates of prisons and jails fell, the violent crime rate fell as well, possibly indicating that lowering the number of people imprisoned can be an effective way to increase public safety.

"The data clearly demonstrates that the use of incarceration as a means of increasing public safety is a failed public policy," said Sheila Bedi, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. "This data underscores that investments in education, employment and housing are what make communities safer."

The Uniform Crime Report also reinforces statistics around youth crime and suggests that punitive practices aimed at youth should be abandoned for more effective alternatives. According the UCR, adults are responsible for the majority of violent offenses, representing 84 percent of all violent crime arrests.

For a more in-depth analysis of crime trends, and information on effective public safety practices, please visit our website at www.justicepolicy.org.

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Featuring journalist and author of "Women Behind Bars" Silja Talvi, founding editor of "Prison Legal News" Paul Wright, former drug war prisoner Yraida Guanipa, and Books Through Bars co-founder and a

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Join us for a pre-Kennedy Center Show Preview at the Prison Art Gallery in Washington, DC to benefit the legal defense fund of our director Dennis Sobin (arrested for going to City Hall to speak at a

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The Justice Policy Institute is a Washington, DC-based research, policy and communications advocacy organization whose mission is to end society's reliance on incarceration, and to promote effective solutions to social problems. Since 1997, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) has worked to enhance the public dialog on incarceration through accessible research, public education, and communications advocacy. Policymakers, the media, advocates, people who work in the juvenile and criminal justice system and the general public rely on JPI's timely analysis to help implement policies to reduce the use of incarceration, and promote effective public safety strategies. JPI's research is frequently cited by policy makers and in America's leading print and electronic media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. JPI has published over 100 pieces of research, including reports, monographs, articles, fact sheets, and other materials used to promote policy reform. By providing communications and research technical assistance to national and state-based reform initiatives, including foundation-led efforts, JPI has played a significant role in helping America turn the tide against runaway prison expansion.

JPI is engaged in work to support the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, Models for Change: Systems Reform in Juvenile Justice, the Partnership for Treatment, Not Incarceration in Maryland, and other juvenile and criminal justice projects that seek to reduce the use of incarceration. In the past decade, JPI has worked closely on projects with the Center for Child Law and Policy, the Youth Law Center, the National Juvenile Justice Network, the Drug Policy Alliance, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the Campaign for Youth Justice, Critical Resistance and various governmental and non-profit agencies.

In the last decade, JPI's research and communication strategies have been used to help prevent federal laws to try more young people as adults from being enacted, and worked with national and state-based campaigns to repeal these laws; prevent a number of initiatives to lengthen prison sentences or tougher juvenile justice measures from being enacted at the local, state and federal level; pass legislation to divert drug involved individuals from prison to drug treatment programs in Maryland and California; develop a constituency to help enact the Prison Rape Elimination Act; reshape public opinion to where reform of California's "Three Strikes Laws," and reforms to Maryland's drug sentencing statutes are now being considered; elevate the importance of, and promoted effective strategies to reduce the number of young people in pre-trial juvenile detention, and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice system.

JPI's budget is roughly $750,000 annually and it is supported by grants from several national foundations. JPI currently has a staff of six, with a cadre of long-time professional consultants who work with the staff to achieve the mission through research and communication work. JPI's office, staff and Board are based in Washington, DC. JPI is poised to grow, and increase its influence and policy impact.

JPI is seeking a dedicated and experienced leader to move the organization forward. The executive director must be committed to and respect JPI's historic mission, and understand the organization's place within the larger field working for more sensible sentencing and correctional policies, and juvenile justice reform. The executive director must have a background in juvenile and criminal justice research, understand and have implemented research and communications strategies to achieve policy reform goals, and know how to harness both research and communications strategies to support policy reform. While the organization is seeking someone with strong leadership qualities, the organization's key strength is that it works collaboratively with other organizations and initiatives, and harnesses our core skill sets to support other organizations through research and communication work.

Specific responsibilities of the Executive Director include direct supervision of all staff and consultants to complete products to support five major projects that cross the domains of juvenile and criminal justice reform; ensuring that research projects reflect the JPI brand type, quality, and design to maximize their policy impact; ensuring that well-planned and strategic communication techniques are employed to maximize JPI's policy impact; serving as "editor-in-chief" on JPI written materials; serving as primary spokesperson for JPI; maintaining ongoing relationships with press; working with project staff and consultants to conduct other public relation activities on JPI projects; soliciting grants and maintaining ongoing relationships with funders; ensuring sufficient funding for organizational projects and operations; overseeing, managing and maintaining the budget; being responsible for organizational assets, expenditures, salaries, benefits, and overseeing annual reports and accounting reviews; engaging in semi-annual fundraising drives and solicitations; recruiting and hiring; establishing training, supervision, management and staff evaluations; identifying opportunities for staff professional development; completing reports for, and communicating with, the Board of Directors; recruiting new board members; engaging in organizational development activities to enhance the quality and impact of JPI's work; developing policy positions that help advance the work of reducing society's reliance on incarceration; and conducting research and developing communications and advocacy strategies to achieve those goals.

Qualifications include having experience managing within or directing a nonprofit organization, government agency or equivalent academic center or program (experience with personnel management is particularly desirable); good strategic thinking and understanding how to craft and move a policy reform agenda; creativity; being a team player; possessing the skills to work with government, allied organizations, organizers and advocates; and being able to find the balance between advocating for change when required and managing projects that work to use research and communications to build a consensus for change with policymakers and key stakeholders; having experience with juvenile and criminal justice issues. Having experience working in a national organization that engages in research, communication or advocacy on a national level is also a plus. Fundraising experience is highly desirable.

People of color and individuals with direct experience with the criminal justice system are strongly encouraged to apply. The Justice Policy Institute is an equal opportunity employer.

Salary is commensurate with experience, generous benefits included.

To apply, please e-mail your resume and cover letter to Tara Andrews, JPI Board of Directors at andrews@juvjustice.org.

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Drug war defenders are indeed fond of pointing out how hard it is to actually get jail time for using drugs. So they should probably stop New Orleans District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson before she finishes filling Louisiana's prisons with the pettiest marijuana users she can find:
The flood of new felony charges didn?t target murderers, rapists or armed robbers ? they targeted small-time marijuana users, sometimes caught with less than a gram of pot, and threatened them with lengthy prison sentences.

The resulting impact has clogged the courts with non-violent, petty offenses, drained the resources of the criminal justice system and damaged low-income African-American communities, [Orleans Public Defenders Office Chief of Trials Steve] Singer said.
?

A first-time marijuana possession charge in Louisiana is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison but typically results in a small fine. A second offense is a felony that can carry up to five years in jail and a third offense up to 20 years.
?

Some say Landrum-Johnson?s decision to buck history and charge marijuana users with felonies is a political decision meant to assist in her run for Orleans Criminal District Court Section E judgeship. By prosecuting thousands of marijuana possession cases as felonies, Landrum-Johnson can then go to the voters of New Orleans and claim she is ?tough on crime,? [Tulane University criminologist Peter] Scharf said. She can point to the massive increase in felony prosecutions under her tenure without explaining that those prosecutions were for people holding joints and not guns, he said. [New Orleans CityBusiness]

Only Landrum-Johnson knows what her motivations are, so I won't belabor that point. She is presiding over a deliberate effort to place large numbers of small-time marijuana users in prison for 5-20 years and there exists no noble motive for doing that. Whether she believes this can help her become a judge, or she possesses a virulent and vindictive animosity towards people who smoke marijuana, or she is merely detached utterly from the consequences of the authority she wields, the result is disastrous and the justification is a fraud.

This, I'm afraid to say, is the reality of America's war on drugs. Everyday our drug policies produce outcomes none of us intended and almost none of us support. The idea of imprisoning nonviolent drug users is so obviously unpopular that the DEA has a whole page arguing that it almost never happens. But will anyone in Washington, D.C. approach the New Orleans DA's office and tell them to stop? Of course not. The very people who so vigorously argue the scarcity of such injustices are the same ones who work tirelessly to conceal them and enable their continuation.

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[Courtesy of Prisons Foundation]

The year's most exciting stage presentation is now being rehearsed and finalized. Please mark your calendar for an evening of great theater featuring the work of prisoner and ex-prisoner playwrights: Sat. Aug 30, 8 pm, Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center. Free admission. Presented as part of the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival.
See below for a listing of the five plays that will be performed. Also, pick up the next (August) edition of Washingtonian Magazine for more preview information.

From Prison to the Stage: Six Felons, Five Plays

Road 2 Redempshun by Shelton Land

Laws Of The STREET by Lamont Carey

This is Serious by Ramone Ringo Fernandez

Stitch in Time by Lee Amiralt and Dennis Sobin

The Monkey Trap by 1 Wise African aka Joseph Briggs

Producer: Lloyd S. Rubin

Directors: Jahi Foster-Bey and Anita Winston

Music Director: Kevin Horrocks

Stage Manager: Christopher Bryant

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In a recent syndicated column ("More Prisons, Less Crime), commentator George Will argues that the world record incarceration rate in the United States has produced safer streets and has been beneficial in particular to African Americans, who are disproportionately victims of crime. Will's selective use of data and limited vision provide an inaccurate portrayal of current criminal justice policy and its effects.

In a briefing paper, The Sentencing Project refutes Will's argument on prison racial disparities, federal crack cocaine sentencing and the impact of incarceration on crime.

Do Prisons Equal Less Crime? provides an assessment of some of the key arguments raised in the Will column. We hope you find this analysis useful in your work.

-The Sentencing Project

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If you take George Will's word for it, you might come away thinking we're 2 million more prisoners away from ending crime in America once and for all. His Sunday Washington Post column, More Prisoners, Less Crime, begins by attacking liberals for not loving incarceration enough, proceeds to deny racial disparities in our criminal justice system, and closes by suggesting that prisons might be better for society than universities. Needless to say, it was linked approvingly by the White House drug czar, John Walters.

Will would have us believe that all progress towards reducing crime rates is the exclusive result of increased incarceration, ignoring all other factors, and even mocking "liberals" who focus on addressing "flawed social conditions." Amazingly, Will manages to reach his singular conclusion without even telling us how far crime rates have actually dropped. It's a glaring and convenient omission, since any criticism of his shallow and needlessly partisan analysis is difficult without knowing what numbers he's looking at. For example, since the incarceration boom began in the 1970's, the biggest drop in crime rates occurred during the mid-90's, a period of increased economic opportunity, which took place under a democratic administration.

In his book "The Great American Crime Decline," crime expert Franklin Zimring, PhD notes:
Since a huge increase in incarceration was the major policy change in
American criminal justice in the last three decades of the twentieth
century, one would expect many observers to give this boom in
imprisonment the lion's share of the credit for declining crime in the
United States. One problem with such an assumption is that massive
doses of increased incarceration had been administered throughout the
1970s and 1980s with no consistent and visible impact on crime.

The Vera Institute reports that only 25% of the crime drop of the mid-90's was attributable to incarceration. Moreover, since the prison population grew by a staggering 638% between 1970 and 2005, any benefits actually derived through incarceration are achieved at a massive cost, both fiscally and in terms of huge numbers of individual people whose imprisonment didn?t actually reduce crime. I mean, crime didn't drop 638%, obviously.

The idea of using incarceration to incapacitate the most serious offenders is ancient and perfectly logical in and of itself. A small minority of offenders commit a large percentage of crimes, thus if we can remove the worst recidivists from society, we'll achieve substantial gains in crime control. The problem is that each successive year of heavy incarceration will impact fewer of these serious offenders, precisely because so many of them are already behind bars. These diminishing returns ensure that lock 'em up policies will become progressively less effective over time, thus incapacitation could not achieve a sustained or proportionate crime reduction even if it were the sole factor, which it is not.

Finally, much of this has limited, if any, applicability to the illicit drug market, which has thoroughly withstood the incarceration boom. Drug sales, unlike rapes and murders, never decrease when the people responsible are removed. Thus, the Drug Czar's enthusiasm for Will's conclusions may have more to do with his appreciation for any spirited defense of the prison population than an actual belief that we've made progress towards reducing the drug trade specifically. Disruptions in the drug market actually increase violence, as we're seeing in Mexico, therefore any sustained reductions in violent crime we've achieved through incarceration could be expanded dramatically by ending the drug war and regulating illicit drug sales. There is absolutely no public safety interest in incapacitating non-violent drug offenders, who will only be replaced, while the State continues to foot the bill for their imprisonment.

Fortunately, for anyone frustrated by the mindlessness of those who still defend our embarrassingly massive prison population, understand this: we literally cannot afford to keep doing this. Not because it has ravished urban communities, and thoroughly corrupted the administration of justice in America, nor because it has fostered the growth of a paramilitary police state that routinely steamrolls the due process of our laws. And not even because the people themselves have grown suspicious of our towering prison industrial complex and the tiresome rhetoric employed by its champions. We cannot afford to keep doing this because we just don?t have enough money to indefinitely continue supporting these horrible things.

Eventually, even our most vengeful and ferocious legislators and bureaucrats will have to make better decisions about who to put in our prisons. And when that day arrives, decades of so-called "tough-on-crime" talk will immediately be brushed to the fringes where it has belonged for generations.

Update: Unsurprisingly, Pete Guither is all over this at DrugWarRant.

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From England comes yet another example of how drug prohibition has failed in more ways than we can even think of.
DRUG dealers are getting themselves sent to prison because they can make huge profits in a few weeks behind bars.

They are raking in tens of thousands of pounds from operations while inside jails.

With a captive market, they can charge fellow inmates more for drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine than they can sell them for on the outside. [Daily Express]

Needless to say, if you can't keep prisons drug free, what are we doing trying to eradicate the drug economy on the outside?

Seriously, just imagine you call the cops cause someone's breaking into your house, but they're busy down the road dealing with a guy who's showing everyone his penis just so he can go to jail and sell drugs. Add another item to the list of phenomena that are so stupid they can only be caused by drug prohibition.

Now that the very institutions which are supposed to intimidate drug dealers have become yet another instrument of drug prohibition profiteering, can we please regulate the stuff and force these jerks to get a damn job?

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