5 ms·

tl;dr: "Taken together, these findings suggest that the effects of the War on Drugs are often relatively slight compared to other causes, and that they are cert

by slasaus 11y ago

tl;dr: "Taken together, these findings suggest that the effects of the War on Drugs are often relatively slight compared to other causes, and that they are certainly not as big as many often assert. In reality, a majority of prison growth has come from locking up violent offenders, and a large majority of those admitted to prison never serve time for a drug charge, at least not as their “primary” charge. These results pose a challenge to those who wish to aggressively scale back incarceration, since the current politics of reducing sanctions for drug offenders is less complicated than that for reducing punishment for violent or property offenders. Reforming drug statutes is easier, but doing so will likely not effect significant change in the overall incarceration rate." p.6

javert 11y ago
Here is the take-away of that: > In reality, a majority of prison growth has come from locking up violent offenders And also: > a large majority of those admitted to prison never serve time for a drug charge
slasaus 11y ago
"These results pose a challenge to those who wish to aggressively scale back incarceration, since the current politics of reducing sanctions for drug offenders is less complicated than that for reducing punishment for violent or property offenders." I think there is an important difference between someone who is violent against other people versus someone who uses drugs (and might be violent in a sense to him/herself but no one else). So where "reducing sanctions for drug offenders" might be a novel thing to do, "reducing punishment for violent or property offenders" might not be. Apart from which one is "less complicated" or more efficient to the goal of scaling back incarceration.
- tptacek 11y ago
  You cut the author off before he could finish his point, just a few words later, that many violent offenders also don't belong in prison.
  - yummyfajitas 11y ago
    Could you quote this in the text (just enough so I can \C-s to the right place)? I'm having a hard time finding this point in the rather large document.
    - tptacek 11y ago
      "Not all violent offenders are murderers and serious assaulters, and many would likely be better served by not being incarcerated, but the optics and political risks of violent-offender decarceration are much tougher to navigate than those for drug offenses." The Big 4 violent crimes are murder/manslaughter, rape, robbery and ag. assault. Of those 4, it's easy to get charged with the last two. For instance: I was "gently mugged" at night a few years back on my block; 3 teenagers jumped me and demanded my phone, which I gave them, and my bag, which I refused to give them, at which point they ran. They were charged with robbery (I didn't bother showing up to their trial, which I understands means they were acquitted, which seems like a decent outcome).
      - areyousure 11y ago
        Just to clarify, by "jump" do you mean "surprised", "hit", or "beat the s* out of"? I wasn't familiar with a usage of "jumped" that didn't include at least being hit (if not beat up), and Urban dictionary seems to agree with that interpretation: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped
orblivion 11y ago
> In reality, a majority of prison growth has come from locking up violent offenders, and a large majority of those admitted to prison never serve time for a drug charge, at least not as their “primary” charge. How was this ever so ambiguous that it took this long for somebody to figure out?
- tptacek 11y ago
  Crappy data, as the author points out.

by slasaus 11y ago

javert 11y ago

Here is the take-away of that: > In reality, a majority of prison growth has come from locking up violent offenders And also: > a large majority of those admitted to prison never serve time for a drug charge

slasaus 11y ago

"These results pose a challenge to those who wish to aggressively scale back incarceration, since the current politics of reducing sanctions for drug offenders is less complicated than that for reducing punishment for violent or property offenders." I think there is an important difference between someone who is violent against other people versus someone who uses drugs (and might be violent in a sense to him/herself but no one else). So where "reducing sanctions for drug offenders" might be a novel thing to do, "reducing punishment for violent or property offenders" might not be. Apart from which one is "less complicated" or more efficient to the goal of scaling back incarceration.

tptacek 11y ago
You cut the author off before he could finish his point, just a few words later, that many violent offenders also don't belong in prison.
- yummyfajitas 11y ago
  Could you quote this in the text (just enough so I can \C-s to the right place)? I'm having a hard time finding this point in the rather large document.
  - tptacek 11y ago
    "Not all violent offenders are murderers and serious assaulters, and many would likely be better served by not being incarcerated, but the optics and political risks of violent-offender decarceration are much tougher to navigate than those for drug offenses." The Big 4 violent crimes are murder/manslaughter, rape, robbery and ag. assault. Of those 4, it's easy to get charged with the last two. For instance: I was "gently mugged" at night a few years back on my block; 3 teenagers jumped me and demanded my phone, which I gave them, and my bag, which I refused to give them, at which point they ran. They were charged with robbery (I didn't bother showing up to their trial, which I understands means they were acquitted, which seems like a decent outcome).
    - areyousure 11y ago
      Just to clarify, by "jump" do you mean "surprised", "hit", or "beat the s* out of"? I wasn't familiar with a usage of "jumped" that didn't include at least being hit (if not beat up), and Urban dictionary seems to agree with that interpretation: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=jumped

orblivion 11y ago

> In reality, a majority of prison growth has come from locking up violent offenders, and a large majority of those admitted to prison never serve time for a drug charge, at least not as their “primary” charge. How was this ever so ambiguous that it took this long for somebody to figure out?

tptacek 11y ago
Crappy data, as the author points out.