rugscontinue to plague our society at an alarming rate and ever since the War onDrugs was declared in 1980 by President Ronald Reagan it has contributed to anenormous growth of the prison system in the United States. The war on Drugs wascreated as a way to combat the multibillion dollar drug industry targeting Highlevel drug traffickers and kingpins, but it has had an impact on low incomeminorities because there communities are targeted by narcotics dealers whichincrease law enforcement surveillance in which people can be targeted. Jailpopulations have increased vastly because the majority of repeat drug offendersare minorities who receive longer prison sentences instead of rehabilitationprograms. Too some extent The War on drugs is a war on minorities and the poorin an article by the Washington post it sates Minorities make up 62 percent ofdrug offenders sent to state prisons and are 13 times more likely to getprosecuted on drug offenses(Fletcher, 2000 US: More Whites Use Drugs, More BlacksImprisoned).
Minorities are not the only consumers of drugs but are sought outmore because due to hardships which can include economic instability that may commitmore crime to feed their addictions. Literature ReviewTheUnited States is the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world wherea quarter of prisoners were imprisoned for minor or major drug offenses. Thismeans 6 in 10 people are in state prison for a drug offense in which a majorityof these offenders have no history of violence or high-level drug sellingactivity. It is the task of law enforcement to depict what crimes resourcesshould be spent on. Law enforcement resources are often diverted away fromsolving other crimes such as murder, robbery and kidnapping.
This occurs due toincreased law enforcement attention to low-level drug offenders which can inevitablyresult in fewer resources and ultimately adds to the billions spent on the waron drugs which could be used as a resource elsewhere. Legislations such as theCivil Asset Forfeiture have been created through the war on drugs. The CivilAsset Forfeiture was introduced to combat drug trafficking through thislegislation both federal and local police agencies can seize any drug-relatedassets from suspected drug dealers.
No formal arrest has to be made by law enforcementto seize funds and the suspect must prove their assets were made lawfully orthe funds can be used to augment law enforcement agency budgets even if thesuspect is never charged with a crime. Civil Asset Forfeiture is a risk to allcitizens as well if they are on their way to purchase an item in full and theyare pulled over for an infraction and are searched they may have their propertyseized until they can provide documentation for their assets. A reform act createdin 2000 to limit this legislation and stated that if asset forfeiture takesplace the government has to show a burden of proving the property was involvedin a crime by a preponderance of the evidence rather than probable cause.
