[DEBORAH] POTTER: More than two million Americans are now imprisoned, four times as many as 30 years ago. The major reason: Mandatory sentencing for non-violent crimes and drug charges.
But the war on drugs, declared in the 1980s, has not had the effect its backers predicted. Arkansas Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin has seen the results.
JUDGE WENDELL GRIFFEN (Arkansas Circuit Court): Drug use has not declined. All it has done has produced an explosion on our prison population. The whole mandatory sentencing guideline mantra was sort of like the Kool-Aid that we should never have drunk.
When societies introduce (or increase the level of) mandatory sentencing, they end up paying a lot of money for the privilege. A LOT of money.
Be that as it may, a duty lies on Christians to minister to the incarcerated and their families: “I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” [Matt 25:36] So good to see that these groups are getting involved.
RE: “Drug use has not declined.”
But the crime stats have!