Drugs and racial discrimination

As a powerful follow-up to the recent report by the New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing urging reforms to the state’s drug sentencing laws (details here and here), the New York Times today has this editorial entitled “Drugs and Racial Discrimination.” Here is a selection:

The mandatory sentencing laws that have swept this country since the 70’s have clearly done more harm than good. The inmate population has skyrocketed, driving prison costs to bankrupting levels, while having no impact at all on the drug problem. By taking away judicial discretion, the laws have led the country to write off first-time offenders who might have deserved second chances and to imprison addicts who could otherwise have been effectively and less expensively handled through treatment programs.

The laws have also discriminated against members of minority groups, who are disproportionately singled out for harsher mandatory sentences, often because of where they live….

The broader message of [the recent NJ Commission study] is that the country can’t just imprison its way out of the drug problem. Coping with this issue — while reducing prison costs — will require a complex set of strategies, including drug abuse treatment and prevention services and increased judicial discretion in sentencing.