In this section I will give a brief history of the war on drugs, as well as a brief history of the problem of prison overcrowding. .
Failure of rehabilitation.
During the 1970's, rehabilitation was viewed as a failure and society called for harsher sentencing. It was believed that nothing was working (Johnson 1996). During this time period, a move was made from the reform of prisoners to the policy of warehousing prisoners or incapacitation of prisoners. The belief was that if prisoners were behind bars, they could no longer harm society during their period of incarceration (Currie, 1998). .
History of the war on drugs.
Soon after the failure of rehabilitation, society called for a war to be launched on the increasing drug problem that was destroying society. In the 1980's, the Reagan administration launched a massive war on drugs guided by it's drug control strategy that sought to combat drug abuse through mandatory and minimal sentences (Skolnick 1992). The war on drugs enforced harsh punishment on both drug dealers and drug users. The war on drugs, combined with the newly formed belief of warehousing of prisoners, lead to a substantial amount of inmates with a drug problem that were receiving absolutely no rehabilitation. .
Many call the war on drugs a racist war that focuses on minorities and neglects, to a certain extent, that this problem also affects the white community. The war on drugs has increased the number of inmates in American prisons in a very unproportional way. The number of minorities that are being incarcerated is very unproportional to the per capita population of society .
The war on drugs is an issue of race that seems to target populations of inner city minorities. This issue, when related to prison overcrowding, gives us (society) a prison system that is full of minorities. These minorities are not being reformed. The issue is a matter of minorities that are becoming very cynical of the criminal justice system.
