NCJ Number
165481
Date Published
1996
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This analysis of drug policies in Kansas and the United States concludes that getting tough on drugs has had the inevitable consequence of greater leniency toward nondrug crimes and that effective drug policy reform will require a reversal of the current trend toward centralization of criminal justice.
Abstract
Criminal justice problems in general and drug problems in particular vary geographically in their nature and impacts. Current policies shift part of the costs from one jurisdiction to another and provide incentives for criminal justice officials to use scarce prison space for drug offenders and making it difficult to determine a policy's effectiveness. Many States are experiencing consequences of the 1984-89 drug war; these include mandatory sentences for drug law offenses and Federal and State seizure laws. These and other legislative actions make it unlikely that drug control activity will return to a level reflecting the true costs and benefits of drug law enforcement. However, decentralization would probably increase testing of alternative policies, because jurisdictions favoring imprisonment would no longer be able to export the costs of their approach. Policy options that should be explored include punishing juvenile offenders for their first or second offenses, drug courts and treatment as an alternative to imprisonment, directing proceeds of seizure laws to general revenue rather than the arresting agency, sentencing guidelines that allocate prison space to its highest and best use, and decriminalization. Footnotes and 87 references