Race and the War on Drugs

Datos Bibliográficos

ID23244262
AutoresMichael Tonry (University of Chicago, autor de correspondencia)
Año1995
Volumen1994
Número1
Páginas81-123
Fecha de publicación1995-01-19
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoCHAPTER
RevistaMalign neglect--race, crime, and punishment in America (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialOxford University PressNew York, NY (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780195077209.003.0003
OpenAlexW2202060684
ISBN9780195077209
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11

Three effects of the War on Drugs stand out. First, it was a failure. The street price of cocaine, the war’s signature drug, should have risen if dealing were becoming riskier and drugs less available; prices fell. Massive arrests and street-sweep tactics in many cities, backed up by harsh mandatory prison sentences, should have cleared out the drug dealers and made drugs harder to find; they did not. Most analysts and many police officials believe that arrested street dealers are nearly always replaced by others willing to take the risks and that drug sales are merely moved to other locations. Finally, there is no evidence that crime control efforts lowered levels of drug use in the United States. Drug use was declining years before the war was declared, and the war can claim no credit for the continuation of preexisting trends. There are reasons to believe that mass media and public education initiatives reduced drug use, especially among school-age people, but that is a different matter.

Race (biology) · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Race, History, and American Society