Online Custom «Drugs in America» Essay Sample

Incarceration of Black Americans has recently become one of the most significant problems for the whole society of the United States. Furthermore, the real rates of incarceration for Black Americans significantly differ from the ones for Whites, which clearly shows a great gap between the two ethnicities. Higher incarceration rates identified for the representatives of Black population are associated with higher incidence of crime in this group (Pawasarat, et al. 2013). Finally, there lots of prejudices against Blacks, which creates precedents for imprisoning of the greater percentage of Blacks compared to Whites. Therefore, issues of racial discrimination could still be reported in the country.

Another important phenomenon in the United States is the war against drugs, the dangerous substances, which are considered to have been tested by most Americans at least once during their life (NADCP). Although, the common rule for this war is to eliminate drugs from the community, its hidden goal is the war against Black Americans. Furthermore, there is a great number of White offenders of drugs in the America, but the African community is the primary target for the policies against drugs.  However, there are a lot of defenders of the current methods and approaches to the struggle against the Black community, which try to protect this minority from violence, nuisance, disorder, and addiction. Moreover, there is plenty of evidence, which proves that laws of the US are permanently contributing to disproportionate and higher rates of prisoning for Black Americans for drugs (Pawasarat, et al. 2013). Besides, these rates show that the number of Black Americans, who were incarcerated in the past is ten times higher than the number of Whites. However, if the number of citizens, which were imprisoned for drugs, is taken into account, it appears relatively the same for both groups. It must be said that there is a great number of conscious and unconscious racial stereotypes against Blacks, which are present even at political level, which shapes the position within the society regarding drugs and Blacks.

Additionally, the reoffend for drugs is has serious effects on the society of the United States problems, which says that a great number of people, who were incarcerated for drugs, have been reoffended for the same thing again. Unfortunately, most people, who have entered prison for drugs, return to it again because of the same crimes, such as drugs. Furthermore, more than two thirds of thee of the Black Americans have been already reoffended for drugs (Pawasarat, et al. 2013). As a result, it is obvious that most people, who are somehow connected with drugs business, will reoffended after release because of permanent addiction, and most of these prisoners are Blacks.

Incarceration of African Americans

There is a serious problem with the incarcerations number in the different parts of the United States, where the Black population is prevalent. It can be explained by the fact that Black Americans are incarcerated five times more than Whites in all the country parts. Furthermore, the investigations of 2010 showed that one in eight working African American men were imprisoned, while for the Whites, this value is only one in fifteen (Pawasarat, et al. 2013). Recent analysis and comparison of the data from all prisons in the USA raised a racial question within state prisons. Furthermore, the average ratio of Black Americans in prisons compared with Whites is 5.1 to one respectively according to the report (Puglise, 2016). Nevertheless, there are a few states, where this ratio is ten to one, or even higher, while the latest Census data indicates that there are 63.7% of Whites, 12.2% of Blacks, 8.7% of Hispanic White, and 0.4% of Hispanic Blacks in jail, who have been imprisoned for drugs (Puglise, 2016). Therefore, the rates are significantly different among racial groups, and the percentage of persons imprisoned for drug use is enormously high. 

A research was conducted by Ashley Nellis, who is permanently contributing to looking for alternatives to prisoning and to different criminal justice policies. It was found that there are two states, where the disproportion is two times higher than on average. It was New Jersey, where the ratio is about twelve Blacks to one White regarding the prison system, which was followed by Vermont, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin (Puglise, 2016). Nevertheless, Oklahoma had the highest ratio of imprisoned Blacks with 2,625 people per 100,000 citizens, while the population of Black is 7.7% (Puglise, 2016).  Moreover, there are eleven states, where approximately one per twenty men is incarcerated by a state prison. Hawaii was a state with the lowest ratio, with 585 imprisoned Blacks per 100,000, and the whole Black population of 2.5% (Puglise, 2016).  In addition, the Blacks-to-White ratio in the prisons was 2.4 per one. Besides, Hispanic population also had a disproportion comparing with White citizens, accounting for 1.4 per 1 for all of the conditions (Puglise, 2016).  Ashley Nellis claimed that it was impossible to accurately calculate these ratios because there were four states, which did not provide the required information. As a result, data about Hispanic imprisoned population cannot be estimated correctly. 

Incarcerated African Americans and Drugs

There is a great number of problems with drugs in the US, where these dangerous things have become very popular among a great number of people. The fact that the “war on drugs” was claimed by Reagan administration in the 1980s, indicates the severity of this problem. This policy resulted in increase in the number of arrests from 1980 to 2006 (581,000 up to 1,889,810 respectively) (Vinck, et al. 2008). This fact highlights the importance of laws and policies provided by government, which has changed since 1980, but still are aimed on overcoming the drugs problem. Today, there are serious and severe measures against all people, who are blamed for activities connected with drugs. Furthermore, a myriad of punishment options has been established, starting from a year and ending with life-long imprisonment for this type of crime. Finally, a great number of Black people in the America have always been engaged in drugs business, and, as a result, a lot of these people were imprisoned for various terms.

Unfortunately, there are different proportions of Blacks and Whites, who are entering prison because of drug offenses. For instance, in 2003 there were 25.4 % of whites entering prison because of drug offenses with new conditions compared to 38.2 % of all blacks (Vinck, et al. 2008). Additionally, it was an increase by 15 % for white citizens from 1999 to 2000, who were offended for drugs, while for the Blacks, the total increase was estimated as 27 % (Vinck, et al. 2008). Moreover, the results of 2008 report indicate that there were 22.9% of Blacks connected with drug offenses comparing with 14.8% of Whites prisoners (Vinck, et al. 2008). It was a tendency in the Illinois, where from 1990 to 2000, the total number of Blacks, who were convinced for drugs-related crimes, grew six-fold, but the number of Whiter was still stable. The other instance of drugs addiction is a case of 2003, when 111,247 entered prison because of various crimes connected with drugs, such as their manufacturing and sales (Vinck, et al. 2008). Finally, the total ratio of Blacks imprisoned for the drugs-related crime was 53.3 % among 59,535 citizens, while for White men and women only 33.3 % of the total number of 37,003 was identified (Vinck, et al. 2008). Nevertheless, it should be considered that the conditions within each state are different, because of variation in the proportions of Whites and Blacks from state to state. For instance, the average ratio in 34 states was 256.2 Blacks per 100,000 adults of the people put to the prison, while the Whites had the ratio of 25.3 per 100,000 adults (Vinck, et al. 2008). Moreover, the ratio of Black has quintupled since 1986, while the proportion of Whites has not significantly changed. As a result, the level of crimes for Blacks, which is connected with drugs, has a tendency to develop much faster than the same rate for the Whites population.

Reoffended for Drugs after Release

There is a great percentage of people, who were reoffended for drugs after the release. The most common reason is psychological problems and addiction. The recent research has proven that people with mental problems, such as bipolar disorder, have higher likelihood to commit new crimes after release. The research of Oxford University has shown that most of people committed with crimes have some problems with their mental health, but only one per seven of them have a real disorder or depression (NADCP). Nevertheless, the main goal of the justice system is to prevent such people from future crimes and to provide them with adequate treatment during their time in prison.

The government of the United States leads the constant war against drugs, which impacts the majority of people, who live in the country and are addicted or influenced in various ways by these dangerous substances. The main aim of this war is to get rid of drugs and consequences of their application for each citizens, but there is an invisible policy, which is in the application of these laws against the Black population. Although, most owners of drugs are representatives of Whites, most of the Blacks are imprisoned for drugs because of racial considerations and policies. Nevertheless, most of the researchers, who struggle for implementation of anti-drug laws against Blacks, are convinced that the main goal of these strategies is to decrease the problems with the Black population, such as violence and addiction (NADCP). Investigation and surveys show that there is a significant proportion of Black Americans imprisoned for drugs, which is much higher, than the proportion of Whites, who were offended for the same crime.  Notwithstanding, the researches prove that there is one White American to ten African Americans offended for the same crime (Vinck, et al. 2008). Furthermore, the same picture can be observed if drugs incarceration is addressed among the same people. Finally, the policies against the Black community of the United States is shaped by the contribution of the existing conscious and unconscious prejudices against the representatives of the Black population.

Unfortunately, most people connected with drugs cannot be completely treated and continue suffering from their addiction, passions, and even disorders, which are, sometimes, caused by overuse of drugs. Moreover, the newest investigations show that approximately 80% of imprisoned people are connected with drugs or alcohol in some way, and more than 50% of them are clinically addicted (NADCP). Furthermore, nearly 60% of all the arrested citizens were under drugs at the time of the arrest and during commitment of their crimes (NADCP). There are also a terrible percentage, which varies from 60% to 80% people, who have already been released, but have committed a new crime after it, which usually happens under drugs again. Unfortunately, more than 95% people return to drugs use after they are released from prison and contribute to the spread of drugs in the population, which leads to addiction in the increasing proportion of the population (NADCP). Besides, approximately 60-80 % of the released prisoners fail to adhere to their treatment regimen after the release, if they are not permanently supervised by judges (NADCP). As a result, there is a great number of ex-prisoners, who have been reoffended for drugs after their release. Most of these reoffended persons have serious and incurable mental problems, which are caused by addiction to drugs and alcohol consumption.

Conclusions

One of the most negative tendencies, which can be observed in the modern society in the America, is incarceration of Black citizens. Nevertheless, the ratio between Black Americans, who were imprisoned, and the Whites is very significant (approximately 5 times higher for the Blacks). It provides the basis for the wide range of crimes, which can be associated with Black citizens of the US. It can be clearly seen that politics and the influence of government have developed a plethora of prejudices aimed on Blacks, which offend them for most of the criminal acts. Finally, there are very threatening rates, which claim that there is one more important problem, which impacts the society of the US, and it is the number of people returning to prison after the release, particularly for drugs. Therefore, there are a lot of criminals, especially among Black Americans, who were forced to return to jail because of use or distribution of drugs. Approximately 70 % of African Americans, who have already been offended for drugs, tend to return to prison. Finally, most of the people, who were blamed for drugs, are African Americans, who have been reoffended for drugs in case of constant addiction or close connection with drug business.