The harsh penalties for possession of marijuana in Illinois have recently come under fire for a number of reasons. Many believe that charging individuals for misdemeanor marijuana possession, which is the leading arrest category in Chicago, is a waste of police time and tax dollars. Across the country, attitudes towards marijuana are shifting in favor…
Continue reading ›It’s no secret that the United States’ prisons are overpopulated with offenders serving time for nonviolent drug crimes. Now, however, the US Sentencing Commission is seeking to address that problem through an early release proposal. The proposal, which the Sentencing Commission passed earlier this month, will make over 46,000 current inmates eligible for early release…
Continue reading ›There are a lot of problems with our prison system, but the one I’m referring to in the title of my post is twofold. One, non-violent offenders often receive sentences that are disproportionate to their crime; and two, our prisons have become overcrowded and sometimes even inhumane because of all the non-violent offenders whiling away…
Continue reading ›There may be little or no difference between the amount of pot white and black people smoke, but there’s surely a huge gap between black/white drug arrests. According to a detailed report by the American Civil Liberties Union, black Americans are four times more likely to get arrested for drug use and possession. The data,…
Continue reading ›Although Colorado and Washington have decriminalized the use of marijuana and more than 20 states have allowed prescribing and limited possession of medical marijuana, the recreational drug still remains a sure ticket to prison in the rest of the country. According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting statistics for 2012, there were 1,552,432 drug arrests…
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