The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration

The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration in the 1980s

Presenter: Samantha Muniz

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Sandra Moore

Department: American Multicultural Studies

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Diversity and Social Justice

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1K4HGUFfz-obS3KLwpMSZl_OV7kvZw9zs

Abstract:
The War on Drugs began as a politically honest movement to help decrease the amount of opiate distribution amonst the United States. This included strickter border laws between the United States and Mexico, higher police involvement in urban areas, as well as longer prison sentences for those convicted of posession or distribution. However, rhetoric used in enforcing this new agenda specifically targeted those in poorer communites, or those of a higher African American demographic. This led to a racial bias among law enforcement and a large influx of inmates in the United States prison system. Minority groups are being used as a scape-goat simply because of the color of their skin, and movements such as Black Lives Matter have begun to fight back against this twisted political agenda.