People have always questioned our criminal justice system, or at least its efficiency — specifically the police officers tasked to enforce the laws.
While police brutality is a prevalent issue in today’s society, it is not the only problem with an often corrupt and bureaucratic system.
Let’s start with the fact that America has the most people incarcerated per capita, ironic for a country that prides itself on being the “land of the free.” Why are there so many Americans in prison? Well, most are from victimless crimes.
The primary victimless crime I’m referencing are drug-related incidents. These are not crimes that were committed under the influence of drugs, but crimes such as minor possession or the solicitation of drugs.
According to the Bureau of Federal Prisons, only a fraction of prisoners are in for violent crimes. These violent crimes include: homicide, aggravated assault, kidnapping and robbery. This is compared to 46.2 percent of prisoners that are in for drug related offenses.
We are more focused on the “War on Drugs” and getting these “dangerous” narcotics off the streets than we are on getting actual criminals. This is especially worrying when you consider that over half of all drug busts are for marijuana, and 88 percent weren’t for dealing, but simply for having pot.
The current political climate has a more positive view of marijuana, with several states legalizing it for recreational use and even more passing legislation to allow it for medical use. If we were to stop processing minor crimes such as possession, we could drastically decrease the amount of prisoners we have sitting in cells. And in return this could put less stress on our criminal justice system and the taxpayer.
To start with, ending the “War on Drugs” could save in total around $100 billion a year.
First, you have to calculate how much it cost to enforce drug prohibitions on the federal and state level which is about $40 billion. Then you must consider that the “War on Drugs” has caused the incarceration rate for drug related offenses to go “from approximately 38,000 to more than 500,000 in the last four decades.” The lost productivity of this population rounds out to about another $40 billion.
Once we end this unnecessary and ultimately unsuccessful “War on Drugs” we can alleviate some of the pressure placed on our criminal justice system and hopefully focus on putting away actual violent and dangerous criminals.