2.2 million in jail is about 1% of 200+ million adults.
The "non violent drug offender" -
Most of the time, this is the result of plea bargain or the difficulty of making a case for another crime.
Joe Criminal threatens a store clerk with a baseball bat, then takes off. He had the foresight to put his mask on before entering the store, so the video tapes is not too useful. He wasn't smart enough not to wear his hooded sweatshirt.
He gets picked up 2 hours later because he is the right height is wearing a "Thug Life" hooded sweatshirt, just like the robber was wearing.
Cops arrest him for robbery, search and find the dope he just bought with the robbery proceeds.
Case heads for trial, there's not a strong case for robbery. The prosecutor and Joe Criminals lawyer agree that he will plea guilty to one count of drug possesion in return for the robbery charges being dropped.
With no robbery charge, now Joe Criminal is "non-violent" ;-)
He gets six months in jail.
Two years later, repeat the same thing, only Joe ditched the sweatshirt and has a gun. He now knows enough to hide the gun away from his property.
Some cops drive along the drug dealer street see that Joe just made a score. He and the dealer get busted. Joe goes back to jail - now this time he is also "non violent".
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"Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails," Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group that supports criminal justice reform, said in a statement.
From 1995 to 2003, inmates incarcerated in federal prisons for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.
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The FEDs are not known for prosecuting small time drug dealers, let alone drug users. What do you think these people really did ? |
