One Revealing Chart

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/10/war-on-drugs-prisons-infographic_n_4914884.html

A recent article from the Huffington Post examines the effect the War on Drugs has had on America's over crowded prisons. Summed up by the chart presented in the body of the article, currently 50.1% of prison inmates, as of January 25^th 2014, were serving time due to drug offenses. This article can be summed up by a simple chart, as the title of the piece alludes to, “Just How Much the War on Drugs Impacts our Overcrowded Prisons, In One Chart.” I really enjoyed this simple, yet effective, piece because it highlighted two issues within the American justice system: the War on Drugs as well as the severe rate of incarceration. Popular rhetoric attests that the rate of incarceration is growing due to an increase in crime; this article sheds light on this misguided belief. I found it very interesting that the number one drug to be incarcerated for was marijuana. With Colorado and Washington leading the way, it seems as though soon we will see the end of the prohibition on marijuana in the United States. To sum it all up – the United States' (which is leading the race of incarcerated citizens among the developed world) number one reason for imprisoning individuals relates to a substance that is considered legal in certain parts of the country. This logic is extremely flawed. If certain regions of the country can recognize a plant for its medicinal qualities, does it make sense that the justice system incarcerates individuals who use that plant at a rate higher than any other crime committed?


A concluding thought – the second leading cause of incarceration in the United States is immigration. Not murder, robbery, hate crimes, or any other atrocious crime you can think of. Keeping these statistics in mind, it is not difficult to see that the motives behind the “justice” system may not necessarily be aimed at keeping the citizens safe.