Drug Traffic
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WK7ProjLoweA1.docxRunning Head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Criminal Justice: drug and substance abuse
Alexis Lowe
Walden University
April 14, 2019
Drug and substance abuse
According to the national survey on drug use and health, more than nineteen million American adults aged between twelve years and above are struggling with substance use disorder. Research has established that the most abused drugs are cocaine, tobacco; alcohol and bhang.by the year 2017, seventy-four percent of those suffering from substance abuse are battling with serious alcohol addiction. An estimated thirty-eight percent are struggling with illicit drug disorder (Guarino-Ghezzi, 2017). However, simultaneous drug addiction cases have been reported to be one out of every eight people with drug addiction (Bean, 2014).
Substance use has resulted and can result in many effects, both short- and long-term effects. Prolonged use of drugs has led to mental disorders, drug addiction, withdrawal effects, dependency as well as organ-specific effects. These disorders as a result of substance use can recur depending on the extent of the drug impact on the affected person (Hawken, et. al, 2014). In addition, drug addiction has a lot of economic implication on individuals, families, work, health system and the government as a whole. These people get sacked from jobs, their families spend a lot of resources in treatment and to earth system becomes crowded as well (Hoffman, 2017).
People who get involved in drug abuse get implicated in unlawful acts such as guns, theft, drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorist activities and cybercrime (Neubauer, & Fradella, 2018). Some of the reasons as to why the drug addicts get indulge in these unlawful acts as result of bad role models such as parents, siblings or friends, peer pressure, availability of the drug at an affordable price, and a lot of positive reinforcement from TV and radio station. The criminal justice system has been overwhelmed by a lot of cases involving criminal activities resulting from drug use. Seventeen percent of the unemployed and nine percent of the employed struggle with drug abuse disorder (Lynch, 2014).
A big challenge about the right now is figuring out what implication does the growing vicious cycle of criminal activities and drug abuse is. The questions of whether decriminalizing a drug make less of a problem or just escalating the issue. Another reemerging issue revolves around the youths in the criminal justice system. Lawmakers are considering changing minors offenders. Whether the law is looking for big arrests or misdemeanors when it comes to the juvenile is an issue of discussion, or should it focus on restorative justice or community safety. If the two can be excluded from each other is a critical matter on the debate (Justice, & Meares, 2014).
Trends in substance use and the criminal justice system
The other trend of the drug criminal justice system is the high imprisonment rate. The number of individuals being incarcerated is continuously escalating. Over more than 2 million people are incarcerated for committing serious crimes in the US. There is a need, therefore, to reconsider why this is so (Hiday, & Moloney, 2014). Scholars argue that there is need to view it as an issue that affects more than just the criminals but as having a huge impact on to people in and out of the communities where those crimes were happening. Moreover, economics also plays an important role whereby more than $50 billion years are spend correctional efforts, although the issue is in the attorney general’s office, it’s an issue of national stage (Lynch, 2014).
The ‘three strikes” legislation requires that when a person is arrested and convicted for three times, then they get out of arrest and conviction circle. However, we are aware that recidivism (repeating a crime after punishment) decrease with age. Since the mandatory sentence does not consider the probability of the person committing the offense, therefore, there is a need to emulate an alternative sentencing and prevention paradigms (Hiday, & Moloney, 2014).
In conclusion, drug abuse is a serious issue in the US. Many people have been lured into these acts due to various reasons. The increase in the crime rate with the use of the drug, with the majority of those arrested in crime activities testing positive for drugs. The number is, however, increasing day by day leading the questioning of the existing programs. There is a need to adopt new procedures and strategies used in order to conclusively handle the drug abuse issues related to the criminal justice system.
References
Guarino-Ghezzi, S. (2017). Balancing juvenile justice. Routledge.
Bean, P. (2014). Drugs and crime. Routledge.
Hawken, A., Davenport, S., & Kleiman, M. (2014). Managing drug-involved offenders.
Welsh, W. N., & Harris, P. W. (2016). Criminal justice policy and planning: Planned change. Routledge.
Hoffman, M. B. (2017). The Denver drug court and its unintended consequences. In Drug Courts (pp. 67-87). Routledge.
Neubauer, D. W., & Fradella, H. F. (2018). America's courts and the criminal justice system. Cengage Learning.
Lynch, G. E. (2014). Our administrative system of criminal justice. Fordham L. Rev., 83, 1673.
Justice, B., & Meares, T. L. (2014). How the criminal justice system educates citizens. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 651(1), 159-177.
Hiday, V. A., & Moloney, M. E. (2014). Mental illness and the criminal justice system. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society, 1-5.
