Tue Dec 20, 2011, 09:56 AM
RainDog (28,784 posts)
Study: 1 in 3 American Youth Are Arrested By Age 23By age 23, at least a quarter of all youth in the U.S. — and perhaps as many as 41% — are arrested at least once for something more serious than a traffic violation, according to a new study of American teens. http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/19/study-1-in-3-american-youth-are-arrested-by-age-23/#ixzz1h5ABwEvo Raw Story's Headline Puts the Blame on Harsher Drug Laws Tougher drug laws mean nearly 1/3 arrested by age 23 http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/19/tougher-drug-laws-mean-nearly-13-arrested-by-age-23/ A study analyzing data from the federal government’s National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that 30.2 percent of 23-year-olds reported being arrested for something more serious that a traffic violation. Steve Cohen (D-TN) is a member of the House who has signed on with Barney Frank, Ron Paul, Democratic Reps. John Conyers (MI), Jared Polis (CO) and Barbara Lee (CA) to reschedule/decriminalize cannabis via HR 2306. In addition, the 40th anniversary of the WoD led to a tremendous outcry from leaders around the world to end the failed war on drugs. http://www.democraticunderground.com/117052 Cohen noted: "Marijuana use has not skyrocketed in the last year, but arrests are vamped up and they use arrest as a basis to get people, particularly people of color where it’s 7 times more likely you’ll be arrested if you’re African American and 4 times more likely you’ll be arrested if you’re Latino and more likely if you’re African American or Latino that you’ll spend a night in jail than if you’re Caucasian,” http://www.democraticunderground.com/117024
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5 replies, 2636 views
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Author | Time | Post |
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RainDog | Dec 2011 | OP |
MADem | Dec 2011 | #1 | |
RainDog | Dec 2011 | #3 | |
LiberalEsto | Dec 2011 | #2 | |
ZombieHorde | Dec 2011 | #4 | |
RainDog | Dec 2011 | #5 |
Response to RainDog (Original post)
Tue Dec 20, 2011, 10:11 AM
MADem (135,425 posts)
1. I must live in an unusual area. These stats don't apply in my neighborhood at all. nt
Response to MADem (Reply #1)
Tue Dec 20, 2011, 10:42 AM
RainDog (28,784 posts)
3. if you're white, you're more likely to get a better deal
and not end up with some sort of record for arrest - these young people are routed into drug rehab programs. The majority of people in drug rehab for cannabis in the U.S. are there because the court offered them the option.
According to SAMHSA, over 37 percent of the estimated 288,000 thousand people who entered drug treatment for marijuana in 2007 hadn't used weed in the 30 days prior to their admission. Another 16 percent of those admitted said they'd only used cannabis three times or less in the month prior to their admission. Do these individuals sound like they meet the clinical standard of dependence...defined as "the state of being psychologically and physiologically dependent on a drug" Hardly. In truth, the only reason these people are in "treatment" at all is because they were arrested with a small quantity of pot and were ordered to treatment in lieu of jail. http://www.alternet.org/drugs/144243?page=entire I don't know if you are aware of this, but NYC and Chicago, for instance, have had "stop and frisk" policies that allow them to stop someone FOR NO REASON other than they might look like they might be someone who is somehow going to commit a crime. The officers have people empty their pockets. If someone has a reefer in his pocket, the police then arrest them - even tho this is a violation of constitutional rights AND this policy is not allowed, supposedly. This policy, however, targets minorities - by that I mean people of color, not underage, tho the two aren't exclusive. |
Response to RainDog (Original post)
Tue Dec 20, 2011, 10:18 AM
LiberalEsto (22,845 posts)
2. Being alive without being rich is becoming a crime, IMHO nt
Response to RainDog (Original post)
Tue Dec 20, 2011, 11:09 AM
ZombieHorde (29,047 posts)
4. This is what happens when authoritarianism meets racism.
Better than Jim Crow, but still really disturbing.
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Response to ZombieHorde (Reply #4)
Tue Dec 20, 2011, 12:19 PM
RainDog (28,784 posts)
5. This is Nixon's legacy
The southern strategy of the conservatives was racist. Even they admit it.
Reagan ramped up this strategy with the zero tolerance "War on Drugs" which is a huge failure in terms of cost/benefit across a spectrum of costs and benefits. Reagan's War on Drugs was, in effect, a call to endless war on the American people. We continue to see the way in which his policies began an assault on Constitutional rights that has continued with the Patriot Act. Any time someone says he or she is a conservative and blathers about the Constitution - I have to wonder why they have supported candidates who continually undermine the constitution in order to engage in voter suppression. |