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> we incarcerate a lot of people on drug charges. We actually don't. Obama tried to reduce the prison population by reducing the sentence or releaseing non-vio

by yardie 7y ago

> we incarcerate a lot of people on drug charges. We actually don't. Obama tried to reduce the prison population by reducing the sentence or releaseing non-violent drug offenders. He found out that type make up less than 10% of the prison population. The punitively long sentencing from the War on Drugs has meant that the people will go to great lengths to avoid arrest. Someone looking at 30-50 years for distribution won't think twice about murdering a witness if they think it will help them beat the charge.

lonelappde 7y ago
"10% of the prison population" is a lot of people. It is approximately equal to 100% of the prison population (per capita) of a European nation. And that's before couting the anti-deterrent effect you described.
bilbo0s 7y ago
>He found out that type make up less than 10% of the prison population. Wait? What? I'm from Wisconsin, and my second home is in Texas. In both places, non-violent drug offenders constitute the bulk of inmates by far. About 77000 of roughly 131000 inmates in Texas are in for drugs without theft or violent charges. If you factor out the ones in for big time distribution, it's about 62000 of the 131000. https://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-prisons/crimes/ https://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-prisons/crim... Are you absolutely certain they said only 10% of people in prisons are drug offenders? In any case, at least where I'm from, drug offenders are, by far, the majority of the incarcerated. EDIT: Hmm, it just occurred to me, are you only talking about Federal system prisons? Because most of our inmates are actually in the 50 state prison systems.
- likpok 7y ago
  A much larger proportion of people are in federal prison for drugs than state prisons. (Gut check: there are few federal crimes that people regularly go to prison for, trafficking is one of them). John Pfaff has done a lot of research into this [1], and drug offenders are a small minority (~20%) of prisoners. The bulk of prisoners are in for violent crimes, which makes the politics of decarceration... tricky. [1]: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1650&context=faculty_scholarship https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=16...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]

by yardie 7y ago

lonelappde 7y ago

"10% of the prison population" is a lot of people. It is approximately equal to 100% of the prison population (per capita) of a European nation. And that's before couting the anti-deterrent effect you described.

bilbo0s 7y ago

>He found out that type make up less than 10% of the prison population. Wait? What? I'm from Wisconsin, and my second home is in Texas. In both places, non-violent drug offenders constitute the bulk of inmates by far. About 77000 of roughly 131000 inmates in Texas are in for drugs without theft or violent charges. If you factor out the ones in for big time distribution, it's about 62000 of the 131000. https://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-prisons/crimes/ https://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-prisons/crim... Are you absolutely certain they said only 10% of people in prisons are drug offenders? In any case, at least where I'm from, drug offenders are, by far, the majority of the incarcerated. EDIT: Hmm, it just occurred to me, are you only talking about Federal system prisons? Because most of our inmates are actually in the 50 state prison systems.

likpok 7y ago
A much larger proportion of people are in federal prison for drugs than state prisons. (Gut check: there are few federal crimes that people regularly go to prison for, trafficking is one of them). John Pfaff has done a lot of research into this [1], and drug offenders are a small minority (~20%) of prisoners. The bulk of prisoners are in for violent crimes, which makes the politics of decarceration... tricky. [1]: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1650&context=faculty_scholarship https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=16...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]