War on drugs; mass incarceration (1 Jan 1971 Jahr – 1 Jan 2015 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

Nixon’s 1971 declaration of a “war on drugs” laid the foundation for a punitive drug policy that evolved into a system of mass incarceration, disproportionately affecting Black communities and people of color. Though framed as a public health and safety initiative, the policy was strategically used to criminalize political opponents and marginalized groups—especially Black Americans. The approach intensified under Reagan in the 1980s with harsh sentencing laws, including the infamous 100:1 disparity between crack and powder cocaine punishments, which targeted Black users. Over time, over-policing in urban areas, mandatory minimums, and “three-strikes” laws led to explosive growth in prison populations. Despite similar drug use rates across races, Black people have been arrested and imprisoned at far higher rates. The ongoing impact of these policies reflects systemic racism embedded in the U.S. legal and political systems, where law enforcement disproportionately criminalizes communities of color under the guise of drug control.

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