Incarceration as we know it doesn’t work. It’s not rehabilitative, economical, nor fair. We lock up a disproportionate number of minorities and most of the country doesn’t ever seem to notice. That’s surprising when you consider the U.S. incarcerates more people than any other country. In fact, although we constitute just 5% of the global population, we make up 20% of the world’s prison population. We need an alternative to traditional drug policy and we need it now.
Rikers Island has been in the news lately for its worsening conditions and unsafe atmosphere for both prisoners and prison staff alike. If you look at other prions throughout the country, you’ll see similar developments. We simply have too many people locked up behind bars. This doesn’t mean, however, that we need to boost corrections budgets and go on a hiring spree for officers. Rather, we must address the systemic issues that have led to our current state.
In short, we can blame drug policies for this mess. A vast plurality of federally incarcerated persons are imprisoned for drug-related offenses, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Over 45% of all federal offenders have been found guilty of crimes like possession, intent to distribute, or holding paraphernalia. This significantly outnumbers the next most common offense, weapons possession, by roughly 24%. The same pool of prisoners demonstrates significant racial inequity as well. Despite making up around 14% of the population, Black prisoners account for almost 40% of all federal inmates. Remember, this is only federal data – not state-by-state data.
The answer to these disparities is to reform our drug-related policies. Legalizing marijuana would be a huge first step in this process, as we’ve discussed several times in the past. This reform has proven difficult, however. Perhaps there is an alternative, in-the-meantime solution to address root inequality in our judicial system.
Spoiler alert: There is.
Drug courts are an alternative judicial discipline seeking to overturn our country’s legacy of mass incarceration. In 1989, Miami opened the first of these bodies in response to a local crack cocaine epidemic. These are small councils, locally authorized to craft tailored rehabilitation plans for drug-related offenses. Drug courts offer free testing, clinical treatment, and individualized case management rather than locking someone up and throwing away the key. They’re also very effective.
Of our 3,000 drug courts, many report a 40% drop in recidivism. This saves the taxpayer somewhere between $5,680 and $6,208 per offender in the long run. It’s clear we need an alternative to traditional incarceration and drug courts might just be the way.
Until we can effect more substantive change, drug courts are an elegant stopgap to our problems. Although there are thousands across the country doing this work as we speak, we must continue to advocate for their presence and establishment in all our communities as we seek to overturn our country’s legacy of inequitable incarceration.
