DRUGS Cathy Shine & Mark MauerWashington-based Sentencing Project entitled, Does Punishment Fit the Crime? examines the differential treatment of drunk drivers and drug users by the legal system. The coursepack touches on related issues - One Toke Over the Line: A University Drug Dealer Tells His Story by Mike Sobel (Michigan Daily Weekend) and several newspaper articles on the Hash Bash. Finally, Professors Ethan A Nadelmann (Princeton) and James Q. Wilson (UCLA) argue for and against drug legalization. To what extent do your joint identities (as a SAFE and a college student) illustrate the ways in which people are treated differently with regard to drugs? Which groups seem to benefit the most from this treatment?
From Amy Watroba:
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 10:53:36 -0500 (EST) From: watrobaa@umich.edu To: eryn@umich.edu Cc: watrobaa@umich.edu The United States now has the highest level of incarceration in the world. THis honor was formerly held by the former USSR and South Africa. We incarcerate roughly 14 percent of our population. The majority of these prisoners (about 70 %) are non-violent criminals and the majority of their offenses are drug related. The majority of these offenses are not distribution-related, but use or possession related. Are you noticing a pattern here? The United States spends billions of dollars annually on two main criminal justice areas: "The War on Crime" and "The War on Drugs." 6 harsh anti-crime bills have been voted into law since 1965. All have alocated increased spending on crime prevention because of an apparent "increase" in crime. In reality, the crime rate has not changed since the 70s. So why allocate all the money? The point also is, that with all of these increased allocations of money, the crime rate has not changed. We have more than tripled the amount of money spent on law enforcement, without reducing crime. This sounds like wasted money to me. Most of this money, by the way, was allocated to criminal justice at the expense of education and low income family programs like "Head Start." Most criminologists nowadays will agree that SES has one of the largest impacts on criminality. Aren't we making the problem worse? The truth is, we need crime as a nation so that the politicians can look good fighting crime.
From Clay Blake-Thomas:
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997 23:07:27 -0500 (EST) From: cbt@umich.edu To: eryn@umich.edu Cc: cbt@umich.edu As a student at the University of Michigan I am associated with all of the other students, many of whom are like those talked about in the story from the Daily that we read for this week. I know people who use drugs at the U and it is perfectly accepted by the students. I resent that part of the image of this fine University. When I am walking around on campus I see people doing drugs like it is normal. As a SAFE, when in uniform, I have never seen someone doing drugs. I amtreated differently, not as part of the large group of students who accept this behavior. I wish there was something that this University could do, or the city of Ann Arbor, to curb the drug problem on campus and in the city. I also wish that the other students weren't so accepting of this behavior.