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Prof. Solomon
English 2010
10/12/2015
The Failure of the System (revised)
We as Americans need to make a change in the Incarceration system, by voting for officials who
are there to keep the prison population lower by not punishing non-violent drug offenders and
keeping violent and sex offenders behind bars. How do we do this? By keeping violent and sex
offenders behind bars longer for their more blatantly more heinous crimes than non-violent drug
offenders. Non-violent drug offenders should not be spending time in jail, but since that is not
the case the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The U.S has an astonishing 700+ prisoners per 100,000 people, whereas Europe has a little more
than 100 per 100,000 people and Europe has population more than twice that of the United
States.
The inequality in drug offenses versus sexual offenses is too much of a common
occurrence. One of the ways to stop the war on drugs and to focus on more important crimes
would be to decriminalize marijuana, because there are various known benefits to consuming it
for medical reasons, and also reduce sentence rates for first drug offenders and non-violent drug
offenders. Its highly likely the incarceration rates would go down significantly.
Marijuana is one of the biggest components of the drug war. That being said because
there has been great accomplishments made with marijuana testing and research particularly with
medical marijuana. According to the U.S Government Accountability Office, some of the
diseases or illnesses that marijuana can provide relief to include: Anorexia, Epilepsy, Multiple
Sclerosis, and several more. It is known that Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol as stated on
the NBC news website, experts say there has never been a documented overdose death from
marijuana use in someone without an underlying condition. While alcohol poisonings can
linked to 2,000 deaths a year in the U.S. With increasing awareness that marijuana can be
beneficial to some, and less harmful than alcohol and tobacco both of which are legal in the U.S.
It is possible in the distant future marijuana could be legalized in all 50 states.
If the citizens of America give more attention than ever before to the imbalances in the
incarceration system, it is likely that the laws could be changed immensely, because it may be the
government officials and courts creating these laws, its the citizens that ultimately vote who gets
to be in office.
Works Cited
Bigamy, Incest, and the Crime against Nature- California Penal Code ,Onecle Inc. 289 (2015)
web.
"California Marijuana Possession Laws." Drug Possession Laws. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Editorial Board "End Mass Incarceration Now." The New York Times. The New York Times,
24 May 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Engel, Pamela. "9 Charts And Maps That Will Make You Ashamed Of America's Prison
System." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 19 Sept. 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
"For Which Symptoms or Conditions Might Marijuana Provide Relief? - Medical Marijuana ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
"New York Marijuana Possession Laws." Drug Possession Laws. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Oct.
2015.
Security and Fire Safety Annual Report 2014. New York Sexual Offenses Penal Code. Sarah
Lawrence College, 2014. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
Shapiro, Maren. No High Risk: Marijuana May Be Less Harmful than Alcohol, Tobacco. NBC
News. N.p., 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015
Sledge, Matt. "The Drug War And Mass Incarceration By The Numbers." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.