Essay On The Tough On Crime Movement
The war on drugs started with the need to stop the movement of drugs into the United States. President Nixon was the first president to understand the severity of the impact drugs had on society. He proclaimed the need to interfere on the number of drugs coming into the United States. With his necessity to intervene he supported the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency in 1973. With this agency, the war against the drug trade was initiated. His efforts were reinforced by President Reagan in the 1980s when he enforced and declared the war on drugs. President Reagan influence, resulted in more individuals incarcerated for drug offenses. This began to take an effect on correctional institutions because they began to experience an increase in
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The tough on crime movement was the necessity to be tougher on crime and convictions. With the tough on crime mentality, the increase of offenders within the correctional institutions increased thus making for an issue of overcrowding within corrections. The tough on crime movement came about after President Reagan began imposing several laws such as the Anti-Drug Abuse Act that imposed mandatory sentencing even for first time offenders who were charged for drug offenses. The mentality in the 1980s was to be tough on crime and convictions rather than rehabilitation. The increase of offenders began to rise and making an impact within corrections. The tough on crime mentality stayed strong through the 1990s where eventually it solidified when more laws came about stating mandatory sentencing for offenders and providing more federal aid to states that were willing to adopt these laws. Today the tough on crime mentality remains strong and the rise of offenders is continuing to rise. Within the court system, “Judges do not want to put potentially dangerous offenders back on the streets and are more likely to set higher bail amounts and less likely to grant release without bond requirement” (Seiter, 2016). This mentality tends to incarcerate more offenders that cannot afford to grant bail resulting in more offenders in correctional facilities thus increasing population
The tough on crime movement was the necessity to be tougher on crime and convictions. With the tough on crime mentality, the increase of offenders within the correctional institutions increased thus making for an issue of overcrowding within corrections. The tough on crime movement came about after President Reagan began imposing several laws such as the Anti-Drug Abuse Act that imposed mandatory sentencing even for first time offenders who were charged for drug offenses. The mentality in the 1980s was to be tough on crime and convictions rather than rehabilitation. The increase of offenders began to rise and making an impact within corrections. The tough on crime mentality stayed strong through the 1990s where eventually it solidified when more laws came about stating mandatory sentencing for offenders and providing more federal aid to states that were willing to adopt these laws. Today the tough on crime mentality remains strong and the rise of offenders is continuing to rise. Within the court system, “Judges do not want to put potentially dangerous offenders back on the streets and are more likely to set higher bail amounts and less likely to grant release without bond requirement” (Seiter, 2016). This mentality tends to incarcerate more offenders that cannot afford to grant bail resulting in more offenders in correctional facilities thus increasing population