Correctional population: Prisons, jails, probation, parole. To the chart percentages below add in the percentages for crimes to get money for drugs, drug-related parole violations, etc..
USA: Over 7.2 million persons on probation or parole, or incarcerated in jail or prison, at yearend 2006. About 3.2% of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 31 adults. Larger chart with detailed source info: [1]. Latest data: [2]. See template.
Drugs and Crime Facts: Drug Use and Crime. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics: "In 2004, 17% of state prisoners and 18% of federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs. In 2002 about a quarter of convicted property and drug offenders in local jails had committed their crimes to get money for drugs, compared to 5% of violent and public order offenders. Among state prisoners in 2004 the pattern was similar, with property (30%) and drug offenders (26%) more likely to commit their crimes for drug money than violent (10%) and public-order offenders (7%). In federal prisons property offenders (11%) were less than half as likely as drug offenders (25%) to report drug money as a motive in their offenses."
16.1% is the percentage of parole violators returned to state prisons in 1997 for drug related violations; for failing drug tests, possession of drugs, failing to report for drug testing, failing to report for alcohol or drug treatment. Info is from Table 21 of this report: Trends in State Parole, 1990-2000. NCJ 184735. October 2001. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Jimmie Carter:Call Off the Global Drug War. In New York Times: "Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed out that, in 1980, 10 percent of his state’s budget went to higher education and 3 percent to prisons; in 2010, almost 11 percent went to prisons and only 7.5 percent to higher education. Maybe the increased tax burden on wealthy citizens necessary to pay for the war on drugs will help to bring about a reform of America’s drug policies." -- June 16, 2011 article.
Still, it is the length of sentences that truly distinguishes American prison policy. Indeed, the mere number of sentences imposed here would not place the United States at the top of the incarceration lists. If lists were compiled based on annual admissions to prison per capita, several European countries would outpace the United States. But American prison stays are much longer, so the total incarceration rate is higher. ... "Rises and falls in Canada's crime rate have closely paralleled America's for 40 years," Mr. Tonry wrote last year. "But its imprisonment rate has remained stable."
2003.Federal Judge Quits, Calls Judicial System Unjust. Associated Press (AP) story, National Public Radio interview, and Judge John S. Martin's statement. "The result, he said, is a slew of lengthy prison sentences for low-level drug dealers 'who society failed at every step.' ... While many judges have criticized sentencing guidelines, it is unusual for a judge to publicly cite the frustrations of the job in stepping down." -June 25 2003 AP story. See also: Let Judges Do Their Jobs. By Hon. John S. Martin Jr..
See Wikipedia: Mandatory sentencing. See also this page. Mandatory Minimum sentencing is oftentimes used for non-violent crimes such as drug possession. It is a modern-day way to create concentration camps for drug-using "undesirables." Sentences that usually do not allow parole until at least around 80% of the sentence served. Federal laws, and most states, have mandatory minimums. The majority of U.S. prisoners are in due to the drug war in some way or another.
www.lifeforpot.com - a website about federal, non-violent, marijuana-only inmates serving sentences of life without parole. Share this link in email, on Facebook, on Twitter, etc..
Tricky Dick Nixon (above) has won his drug war! The Prison-Industrial Complex. Corporatist Dictatorship. A Nixonian "enemies list" that almost everyone is on at some time.
"Nearly one in four persons (23.7%) imprisoned in the United States is currently imprisoned for a drug offense. The number of persons behind bars for drug offenses (458,131) is roughly the same as the entire prison and jail population in 1980 (474,368)." -- From this July 2000 report: Poor Prescription: The Costs of Imprisoning Drug Offenders in the United States. See also: [11].
Number and percentage of prisoners whose primary and/or most serious crime was a drug offense: 8% in 1980. 23% in 1998. Based on federal estimates of state and federal drug prisoners. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
"The FBI has reported that almost one-third of people convicted of robbery and burglary, and more than one-quarter of people convicted of larceny, committed their crimes to get money for drugs. Moreover, 6.5 percent of the murders in the United States in 1990 occurred in narcotics-related circumstances" -- Rethinking America's wasteful war on illicit drugs. By Jerry V. Wilson (former chief of police for the District of Columbia). Jan. 18, 1994. Washington Post.
The Nov. 2, 1995 Chicago Tribune reported: "The latest Bureau of Justice Statistics [BJS] survey of U.S. prison inmates in 1991 found that 27 percent of robbers admitted they committed crimes to buy drugs; 30 percent of burglars said so, and 5 percent of convicted murderers did." -- See Table 3 in the BJS report Fact Sheet: Drug-Related Crime. September 1994, NCJ–149286.
"According to the 1991 joint survey of Federal and State prison inmates, an estimated 17 percent of State prisoners and 10 percent of Federal prisoners reported committing their offense to get money to buy drugs; of those incarcerated for robbery, 27 percent of State prisoners and 27 percent of Federal prisoners admitted committing their offense to get money to buy drugs (see table 3). In 1997, 19 percent of State prisoners and 16 percent of Federal inmates said that they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs. These numbers represent a slight increase from the 1991 figures." http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/crime/index.html#table3
"In 1988, just over half of the murders in the city [New York City] were 'drug-related.' But once the researchers examined the circumstances of the murders, they discovered that the clear majority, 74 percent, were results of the drug trade, not drug use (14 percent) or the need to get money for drugs (4 percent)." -- OPED: War Won't Solve the Drug Problem. July 15, 1999. Washington Post. By Rob Stewart, of the Drug Policy Foundation.
"The percentage of homicides thought to be drug-related reflects both the frequency of such crimes as well as how the relationship is specified. 'What proportion of homicides is drug-related?' This simple question is difficult to answer. The FBI's definition is specific but limited. Cities or police departments may have broader but inconsistent definitions. For offenses not as reliably reported or as thoroughly investigated as homicides, the question is even more difficult because complete information is not systematically available at the national level for any definition of 'drug-related.' "
See the chart below. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/crime/index.html#whystatistics (this chart is no longer on that specific page).
Drug-related homicide rates as defined using differing criteria in four cities, 1990
Percentage drug-related
City 1
City 2
City 3
City 4
Definitional criteria
36.0%
25.7%
39.0%
44.6%
Committed during commission of a narcotics felony
x
x
x
Dispute between dealers
x
x
Offender under the influence of drugs
x
Victim under the influence of drugs
x
x
Source: Data were obtained by the ONDCP Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse.
'*Parole violations and drugs. 16.1% is the percentage of parole violators returned to state prisons in 1997 for drug related violations; for failing drug tests, possession of drugs, failing to report for drug testing, failing to report for alcohol or drug treatment. Info is from Table 21 of this report:
"The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made." - Jean Giraudoux. French diplomat, dramatist, & novelist (1882 - 1944).
See Wikimedia Commons: Category:Government propaganda. Note the "glorious mission" or "glorious war" nature of much propaganda. Like the Republican-ledHoly War, the "War on Drugs". See Wikipedia: War on Drugs. It is really a war on some drug users. This particular glorious war was reinvigorated by the cult leaders, Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Ronald Reagan is still worshiped like a God by some segments of the Republican Party. "The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made." - Jean Giraudoux. French diplomat, dramatist, and novelist (1882 - 1944). Share link.
USA: Over 7.2 million persons on probation or parole, or incarcerated in jail or prison, at yearend 2006. About 3.2% of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 31 adults. Larger chart with detailed source info: [3]. Latest data: [4]. See template.
Incarceration rates for adult males in U.S. jails and prisons by race and ethnicity. On June 30, 2006, an estimated 4.8% of black non-Hispanic men were in prison or jail, compared to 1.9% of Hispanic men of any race, and 0.7% of white non-Hispanic men. Image and data sources. More info: The Drug War causes the high U.S. incarceration rates. See template.
Cigarette Ingredients - Chemicals in Cigarettes. Tri-County Cessation Center. "The list of 599 additives approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes is something every smoker should see. Submitted by the five major American cigarette companies to the Dept. of Health and Human Services in April of 1994, this list of ingredients had long been kept a secret. ... While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were not tested by burning them, and it is the burning of many of these substances which changes their properties, often for the worse. Over 4000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette – 69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer." See: Wikipedia: Tobacco harm reduction.
"In October 2008 the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) became the first medical organization in the U.S. to officially endorse tobacco harm reduction as a viable strategy to reduce the death toll related to cigarette smoking." [13][14]Joel Nitzkin: "So if we can figure that the nicotine in the e-cigarettes is basically a generic version of the same nicotine that is in prescription products, we have every reason to believe that the hazard posed by e-cigarettes would be much lower than one percent, probably lower than one tenth of one percent of the hazard posed by regular cigarettes." [15][16]
Quotes in the image to the left (and in the text below) are from the U.S. government's landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. The full text of the report is available for free online at the above link, and is searchable. The table of contents by chapter is on the right side. Quotes below are followed by their references. Emphasis added.
Page 109: "Indeed, epidemiological data indicate that in the general population marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality. 138"
- 138. Sidney S, Beck JE, Tekawa IS, Quesenberry CP Jr, Friedman GD. 1997a. Marijuana use and mortality. American Journal of Public Health 87:585—590.
Page 107: "When heavy marijuana use accompanies these symptoms [amotivation], the drug is often cited as the cause, but no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship between marijuana smoking and these behavior characteristics. 23"
- 23. Chait LD, Pierri J. 1992. Effects of smoked marijuana on human performance: A critical review. In: L Murphy and A Bartke, Editors, Marijuana/Cannabinoids: Neurobiology and Neurophysiology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Pp. 387—424.
Page 119: "There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use."
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Compare the IOM report quotes to this quote about tobacco:
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Added by Timeshifter
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