06-27-2017, 11:25 AM
(06-27-2017, 11:20 AM)Benton Wrote: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/125618.pdf
Going back to the 70s shows a shift of our approach to incarcerating people, especially blacks. Less than a decade and prison admissions tripled while the percentages of blacks incarcerated doubled. Reagan's woefully bad 'war on drugs' only made those numbers worse as we started doling out longer sentences for minor drug offenses.
The end result? More people in prison at taxpayer expense, but little damage to those profiting from illegal drug trade.
You were supposed to let him respond! No fun. Don't forget that the CIA backed Contras basically started the crack epidemic by having the ability to freely and easily import large amounts of Cocaine to LA where it was dispersed by freeway Rick Ross. Ross later says that without the huge discounts the Contras provided he wouldn't have been even close to successful as he was. Ross ends up doing 18 years for distributing the cocaine that the Contras brought in. His source and middle man to the Contras only ends up doing 2 years because he turns agent for the DEA. Eventually the DEA forces immigration to give him a green card even though he has a drug conviction so he can continue to work for them.
Basically, Regan and his cabinet facilitated the crack cocaine epidemic while simultaneously telling everyone to "just say no" and putting them in jail over it. That is not even looking at the disparity in sentencing standards for Crack (predominantly a black community drug at the time) vs cocaine (a drug predominantly used by white affluent people).
