The inelasticity of drugs creates a steep negative slope. This means that the price can experience great changes and the quantity demanded will change at a much smaller rate. This is further seen in the article in reference to Portugal’s decriminalization of drugs dating back to 2001. A study by the British Journal of Criminology found that the increase in users has increased only marginally if at all. The deregulation of government involvement has decreased the price of drugs but the demand has not greatly increased in response.
“On average, 6,027 teens use prescription drugs every day to get high for the first time” (DEA). Adolescents abuse prescription drugs more than any illicit drug, except for marijuana. Even though the overall drug use among teens has decreased nationwide over the years, the new issue that is on the rise is teenage use of prescription
Critical Analysis on “The Missing Piece to the Gang-Violence Debate.” Dan Gardner’s publish, “The Missing Piece to the Gang-Violence Debate”, is strongly controversial in his position against increasing enforcement of drug laws, and boosting penalties for violators. He believes that you should actually limit enforcement and hardship of sentencing when it comes to drugs. Was his argument persuasive enough in the essay to actually influence his wishes into society? Personally, I don’t think so. Gardner’s ideas are too drastic and I believe he didn’t have enough support in his argument that his plans would actually decrease the murders in gang violence.
He is very experienced in criminal law and is against mandatory sentencing. This journal presents information that the mandatory sentencing policy in the U.S. is a failure. It argues that Legislators thought that they could “get tough on crime,” especially drug crime. I feel this source gives educated reasons as to why drug policy needs to be changed. It also backs up my other sources with the same research results; by removing the sentencing discretion of judges, and replacing it with mandatory jail sentences, we are sending more offenders to prison instead of programs designed to rehabilitate.
Drug Abuse Reform One of the major issues of today is the reform of drugs. Some people believe that all types of illegal drugs should stay illegal for the good of the community. They point out the dangers of long term drug addiction and usage. Others believe that the use of drugs should be legalized. They argue that the dangers of drugs and can limited and controlled if drugs are made legal.
This shows drug trafficking was recognized as a large problem over a century ago. With a better plan and more harsh consequences, drug trafficking can be under better control than it is today. “The position maintained by the United States, a drug-consuming country, was that the trade in dangerous drugs had to be prohibited and that narcotic drug supply should be eliminated at its source” (Keefer & Loayza, (2010), p. 88). This is still the goal for the United States today. Customs officers are expected to do their job and put a stop to the drug trafficking but the temptation of making some extra money may be extremely strong.
Juvenile Crime Statistics After a decade of growth, the incidence of violent crime in America suddenly began to drop in the mid-1990s. Criminologists propose various reasons for the sudden turnaround in violent crime. Explanations include a strong economy, changing demographics, changes in the market for illegal drugs and the use of firearms, expanded imprisonment, policing innovations, and a growing cultural intolerance for violent behavior. Regardless of which explanation one favors, it is clear that previous increases as well as recent decreases in violent crime were disproportionately generated by the nation’s youth. Criminal behavior has always been more prevalent among young people.
Since the 1990s the number of juveniles confined in detention facilities has been increasing. Though the population of children between the ages of 10 and 19 only increased by 3% the number of juveniles confined in detention facilities increased from 51,000 in 1979 to 104,000 in 2001. There is also a steep increase of juveniles in adult prisons. It is estimated that 107,000 juveniles are incarcerated on any given day Out of the 107,000, 14,500 are housed in adult facilities, approximately 9,100 are placed in local jails, and 5,400 are housed in adult prisons. These statistics reflect the “tough on crime” policy being imposed in the United States.
They claim that drug use is a victimless crime and that people who use drugs are only hurting themselves and no one else. Other supporters believe that crime would actually decrease if drugs were made readily obtainable. They claim that because drugs are illegal it creates a subculture that wants to rebel in any shape or form necessary. A big fault lies in this theory. If drugs were legalized, a massive black market would continue to exist.
This seems to show the weakness of the criminal justice system. However, does the dramatically increased number of prisoners necessarily prove that the prison system is not working? Is it possible that the growth resulted from the changes of the laws as more things become illegal, the federal government passes minimum mandatory sentences? Perhaps many crimes for which a person would not have been sent to prison now require a prison term. That could be the reason for the increase.