Legalization of drugs that don’t produce great harm would have a greater impact on the reduction of crime than greater gun control or tighter policing of urban areas. Stricter gun control, although an effective solution, would be difficult to implement in America. If done correctly, would take away a good amount of the firepower that those committing urban violence currently have. However, the above benefits could only be achieved assuming that that the proposed solution could be perfectly executed, leaving guns entirely out of reach for criminals. There are many barriers that exist in the United States in regard to guns that did not exist in the United Kingdom or Australia when they were undergoing gun reform. “Gun culture” in the US is very …show more content…
Drug trafficking causes violence in the same way that liquor trafficking during the Prohibition era did, because the root of the problem is an inherent issue with black markets, not drugs. The criminalization of drugs is causing these black markets, and therefore gang violence, to become an issue. If soft, legal drugs such as marijuana were able to keep many off of harmful ones, which is it has been shown to do, then gangs would not be able to thrive to the degree that some do off of selling prohibited drugs, and the profitability and glamour that encourages many impoverished young people to join violent underground organizations many not be as great. We have seen the same effects of illegalization of a substance that is attainable and sellable in underground black markets in cities during the era of Prohibition. Crime stemming from sale of illicit substances skyrocketed then, and it has skyrocketed now. The problem with continuing of mass incarceration and strict policing as a solution to the urban crime problem is that it has been shown over past decades to be ineffective at doing its job, and has not worked. Conor Friedersdorf said it best, saying that while many will continue to push long jail sentences even for non-violent drug offenses, there is “an inevitable consequence: ongoing violence in the street that is intrinsic to the course [they] are pursuing. Whatever its other costs, only legalization or decriminalization can end that carnage”. When the “law-and-order crusade” took off in the United States, 1972 to 1991, rates of violent crime lept 89 percent (Winslow). The carnage that is ravaging city streets is quite apparent in this statistic, and shows that this policy may even be harmful to the country, rather than