By Marsha Levick, Deputy Director, Juvenile Law Center and Sue Mangold, Executive Director, Juvenile Law Center
Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ move to overturn the progressive charging policies of the last administration and direct federal prosecutors to bring back the failed “war on drugs” of the 1990s is a stunning step backwards. Resurrecting a push to impose strict mandatory minimums will roll back whatever modest gains we have made in reducing excessive – and wasteful – incarceration in this country. Decades of data confirm that this approach destroyed individuals, families and communities – without increasing public safety or reducing drug use.
The United States has the largest prison population in the world. It is estimated that this move will increase the federal prison population, benefitting the private prison industry that the Attorney General has also ushered back in for federal use. Incentivizing incarceration through a for-profit model has devastating consequences. The lessons from Pennsylvania's “kids-for-cash” scandal still resonate: when you mix greed and money with locking people up, you risk abject corruption and injustice. Restoring sentencing policies that have invited bi-partisan scorn is hardly the policy recommendation we should expect from our highest legal officials.
In making his case, Sessions once again cites false data, claiming rising crime rates when in fact crime has been steadily decreasing for decades and this year is at an historic low. While the homicide rate is too high in some cities, it is still at levels well below what it was in the 1970s; Sessions’ claim that the murder rate has risen 10% is a bold-faced lie. Moreover, research has shown incarceration to be particularly ineffective at reducing certain crimes, and especially crimes committed by youth. It is simply undisputed that incarceration is not a deterrent for youthful offenders. And distancing law enforcement further from the communities they serve makes it harder for officers to do their work effectively.
The harsh charging and sentencing practices of the past also contribute significantly to racial disparity in the justice system. Youth of color are ten times more likely to be arrested on a drug charge than their white peers, even though five times as many whites use drugs (NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet). Nationwide, Black people represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice). And historically, mandatory minimum sentencing carried harsher penalties for crack possession than cocaine possession – a distinction which led to greater racial disparity absent any difference in public threat.
Charging the most serious readily provable offense and seeking the longest possible prison sentence for non-violent drug offenses also impacts youth and families involved with the child welfare system. When children's parents are incarcerated, they may be placed in foster care. The failed “war on drugs” tore families and communities apart, and the repercussions from that era are still being felt. This administration promised help at addressing the opioid crisis, but this policy will do little to advance that promise, offering nothing to Americans suffering with addiction and likely weakening the social fabric of our communities.
Sessions' new directive poses a profound threat to the youth we advocate for in both the justice and child welfare systems. And it is especially disheartening that It comes at a time when many prosecutors across the country are re-thinking how best to enforce our criminal laws without needlessly destroying individual lives and families in the process, and when local, state and federal lawmakers are reaching across the aisle to help America shed its moniker "incarceration nation." As we all emit a collective sigh, we must also press on – prosecutors, defense counsel, judges, and legislators – to demand justice policy that adheres to and reflects the facts, the evidence and the data. The last war on drugs failed. Its human toll is incalculable. The lies of this administration cannot obscure the folly of its proposals. We all want safe communities, and we want a justice system that is focused on furthering that goal. Juvenile Law Center is committed to continuing our work to create a fair justice system based upon established evidence of policies that work, not those that fail.