Mcevoy 1
Brandon Mcevoy
ENG 105
Malory Klocke
April, 27, 2016

Prison reform in America
For the entirety of our lives in America we all know of certain taboos, the no no’s of American culture. Examples being drugs, assault, theft, drug distribution.
What needs to be discussed are how these infractions are handled in America, how our justice system operates, how mandatory minimum sentences are discerned, parole and probation are handled as well as their violations, and punishment for violations are handled. Dating back to Sweden around 1746 coffee was made illegal on the basis of public safety without any evidence. King Gustav the 3rd was fighting for prohibition of coffee for 20 years and citizens suffered because of the ignorance of the peoples in power (Gustav III of Sweden's coffee experiment). Alcohol was banned just the same, and the end result? Legalization and the realization that the governing bodies were essentially harassing people unjustly without truly understanding the substance in question.
Yet it is common knowledge that using substances may be addictive and harmful. As well the sale of drugs could be considered tax evasion. These non-regulated drugs may be impure and even more damaging by way of containing harmful chemicals. The real issue is your brain gets used to operating on synthetic versions of natural chemicals or large quantities of the synthetic version. (“What drugs do to the brain”)
Early prohibition of marijuana originated after the Mexican revolution. The demonization of marijuana cam with the Mexican Immigrants, even though most American citizens used cannabis in one form or another in tinctures or tonics but the name of their Mexican cannabis smoke was foreign. In an effort to control these new citizen’s, marijuana and hemp were made illegal. Even though hemp was not psychoactive and mainly used as a textile, oils, medicine, and even building material, Magazines hailed cannabis as the “million-dollar crop”.(how did marijuana become illegal in the first place). And along with it any users of the psychoactive version are still punished today. A great example of this hypocrisy is in ww2 how our government postponed the ban on hemp so the military could use it for hemp rope. Fast forward to the Nixon administration’s war on drugs criminalizing all drugs leaving even medical and scientific studies of the substances in limbo.
Contrary to this it is understandable that these individuals only assumed the worst about this substance’s and the powers that be have set up this prison system with mandatory minimum sentences. The majority of society have done well enough without drugs or altercations with law enforcement. Is it the burden of tax payers to pay for the legislation needed for criminal justice reform?
It has been all over media that growing numbers of mass shooting’s and gun violence have been on the citizen’s minds, as well as politicians. So it is common sense to have people involved in violent crimes given harsher penalties than those of drug offenders/user’s or theft. (The math of mass shooting’s). So it only makes sense to buckle down on infractions of the law especially pertaining to guns and violence.
To shed light on the mostly grey area that these subjects predominantly reside, these laws were put forth when individuals had no science to back up their claims. Our society has been riding the coat tails of cavemen, in that for the majority of human history individuals have been making claims without the know how to investigate or back up their ideals.
Cnn.com post’s an article where Presidents Richard Nixon’s domestic policy chief john Ehrlichman claim’s "You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities," Ehrlichman said. "We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." (Report: Aide says Nixon's war on drugs targeted blacks, hippies)
As well, countless other documentaries have come to light with similar premises. The growing legalization of marijuana for recreation is another testament to the growing public consensus that the war are drugs is a farce and has no place in this society. The enormous sums of tax revenue legalization create for our government is the antithesis of the drug war in both that it is giving money to the community through the government but also that the citizens are no longer being harassed due to its criminalization. Both science and anecdotal evidence has shown drug use is a victimless crime and is far safer if it were to be regulated as in New Zealand or Portugal. In fact, drugs being illegal is feeding the drug cartel in Mexico, causing overdose and death due to non-regulation of drugs and overall civil endangerment. (New Zealand Becomes First Country in the World to Legally Regulate New Drugs) (Drugs in Portugal: did decriminalization Work?)
If what individuals are talking about is an overall more lenient justice system as the answer to these ailments, what might that entail? What goals should be set to accomplish this.
It is obvious we need a police force; it may be that more is better. And yes we do need to reform individuals who are lifetime criminals, and keeping them in jail is a good alternative than that of having them free to commit crimes. And a lot of people would not have it any other way. Just don’t do drugs and stay out of trouble, it’s not that hard.
To think how much legislation would have to go through to change these laws, and how many police officers would need new jobs as well as the prison guards. There would be far less profit for the prison commissary if we downsized prisons and the profits from the shareholders would most likely plummet. I’m sure some would even say they might as well be in prison and the owner’s might as well make a buck of it.
Or should we put more emphasis into the most disparate are of our communities in an attempt to raise them up instead of cutting them down. Perhaps less emphasis on criminal justice and more community awareness is needed.
It is believed that prosecutors have far too much power being that most of the time they are able to choose from multiple versions of the charges and if the defendant does not waive their right to a trial by jury they can receive sentences up to three times longer than those who accept a plea bargain. This boils down to prosecutor’s threatening defendants into submission regardless of the truth. Not only are these mandatory minimum sentences ruining people’s lives but it may be taken to many as a breach of the constitution in that you are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, if you must be proven guilty then the trial must take place without repercussion to the defendant. I only see a possible leniency towards the defendant as an option if they waive their right to trial in order to save the state time and money.
Then again there is a huge argument to be made that going to prison does not reform anyone. In fact, if it just so happened that you committed a crime out of naiveté or circumstance going to prison only surrounds you with other criminals and your record is tarnished for any potential employer’s. As per the previous example, in Portugal individuals are not penalized for drug use but are offered medical services so they may actually stay a productive citizen in society drug addict or not. (Drugs in Portugal: did decriminalization Work?) These arcane practices have to stop, there is all the evidence in the world that drug prohibition never works and is very damaging to the community at large, as well tax payer’s dollars are spent to house alleged criminals so that a wealthy “few “owners of these prison’s may profit.
Another policy of the foreign nations of Australia, Britain, The Netherlands, and even Germany has been legalization in order to promote harm reduction in that sharing needles has been a huge catalyst in spreading aids, HIV and other diseases/infections. It is the goal of this approach to prioritize the reduction of the harm done to citizens in three ways. The reduction in user related diseases by providing clean needles. Two by allowing doctors to prescribe heroin and other drugs to ensure purity and prevent overdose. And three to prevent gang warfare, black market sales overcrowding in prisons and overall corruption within authorities. And according to this PhD Diane Riley it could be used as a framework for all drugs. (Drugs and Drug Policy in Canada A brief review and Commentary)
To me these are political issues of not only civil liberties but a story of oppression manipulation and embezzlement. Do drugs don’t do drugs, arrest don’t arrest, even if I were not privy to these lackadaisical standards and practices I simply think it is a misallocation of government resources to have to pay for mandatory minimums.
America’s war on drugs has had dramatic effects on foreign policies as well. In that other countries are peer pressured into these statutes that it is allegedly bound to by the U.N. But even these treaties do not provide support for this stance. It is believed by many including Diane riley PhD, that enforcing these drug laws are a direct violation of human right’s according to U.N. and the American constitution. (Drugs and drug policy in Canada)
This is not an argument about drug’s, this is a dialogue about what a lot of people are saying. The quote that even our commander in chief barrack Obama and several other high profile public figures has been using is “America has 5% of the world’s population and 25 % of the world’s prison population. To further elaborate this is the highest in the world and can be compared to the other super powers as follow’s. that puts 745 people per 100,000 compared to Russia at 581 per 100,000, and the rate for England and whales at 145 per 100,000 being the midpoint worldwide. (google)
There is an argument to be had that the background check system for employment is not constitutional. Statistically peoples who have committed a crime will not become repeat offenders, obviously because they had so much trouble with the jail time or probation/ parole. In having peoples be non-eligible for employment due to past criminal history feels very inappropriate. Especially if one did grow up in a rough neighborhood and did want to turn their life around it makes it even more difficult to become a productive member of society and get away from negative situations. In effect it is a revolving door of destructive behavior fed by laws laid in place before science had the capability to study the effects of these drugs or behavior. (Judicial watch staff) I believe there should be minimum’s in the practices of employment background checks. I personally have been ineligible for several jobs including security guard, certified nursing assistant, several gas station or clerk jobs Stanley steamer. Point being all these jobs would not hire because of 1 misdemeanor assault charge from when I was barely a legal adult. It is my belief as well as other’s that if there is to be background checks that it only defers employment if one has several offenses’.
Adam Dick of the Ron Paul institute was quoted
“At the same time, [the background check system] could be seen as a violation of the right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment because you have to provide evidence against yourself in order to acquire a gun. And also the Tenth Amendment, because the requirement to provide this information … is not something that is explicitly stated as a power of the federal government in the US constitution.
If anybody has that power would be the state and local governments. But even state governments have their Second Amendment so it would be questionable for them to even employ this sort of tactic to prevent people from having guns.”
(Ron Paul: Why Background Checks Are Unconstitutional)
There is another take on this subject as well. This whole revolving door of destruction is called the prison industrial complex. It is believed as with government and the judicial system that it has become a business, police have arrest quota’s and entrap drug user’s in ghetto’s to get it. The “kids for cash” scandal is a prime example, where judge Mark A Clavarella approached Judge Michael Conahan, who formed and investment group to create a new for profit detention center. It was released that he sentenced 3,000 children without cause. Clavarella was sentenced to 28 years in prison for accepting 2.2 million as a finder’s fee, and over 2300 cases were overturned/expunged. (Judge Michael Conahan)
Private prison’s not only profit directly for holding alleged criminals but also in selling overpriced commissary, putting prisoner’s to work for slave wages (jail porter’s make 15 dollars per week). Lobbyist’s lobby for longer sentencing regardless of circumstance, federal law stipulates 5 years minimum without parole for tiny amounts of certain drugs. There is definitely mal intent, if even a fraction of these facts are true there is an enormous problem. (The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?)
In summation I take it this issue is just now being addressed due to the advent of the internet. The age of untruth and farces is over, we as citizens just like court’s will not deal in hear say. We will no longer blindly follow leader’s opinions if they have no merit, no credentials, no proof. Too much damage has been done, too much money has been squandered, and too many lives have been wasted. I truly hope we can see noticeable change in the near future, as every day that passes more lives are impacted by these impractical practices. Police, judge, & CEO pensions are truly being taken out of poor disenfranchised people’s pockets. We as citizens are paying for these prison’s, so in a sense these prison corporations are stealing from us!!

Barkow, Rachel E. "The Problem with Mandatory Minimum Sentences." New Yorktimes.com. Newyork times, 19 Aug. 2012. Web. Apr.-May 2016.
"Coffee – Rat Poison or Miracle Medicine?" Http://www.linnaeus.uu.se. Http://www.linnaeus.uu.se/online/pharm/kaffete.html. Web. Apr.-May 2016.
"Drugs and Drug Policy in Canada." Drugs and Drug Policy in Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.
"Feds Push States to Ban “Discriminatory” Background Checks." Judicialwatch.org. Judicialwatch.org, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Aug. 2016.
Getlen, Larry. "Corrupt ‘Kids for Cash’ Judge Ruined More than 2,000 Lives." New York Post. Newyorkpost.com, 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 01 May 2016.
"New Zealand Becomes First Country in the World to Legally Regulate New Drugs." Drug Policy Alliance. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016.
Pelaez, Vicky. "The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?" Http://www.globalresearch.ca/. New York and Global Research, 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 1 May 2016.
"Report: Nixon's War on Drugs Targeted Black People." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.
"The Math of Mass Shooting's." The Washington Post. N.p., n.d. Web.
"What Drugs Do to Your Brain." Starlightrecovery.com. N.p., n.d. Web.