New Jail Shows Failure of an Old Problem

This past week, the Hamilton County commissioners made a deal with Butler county to house criminals in their prison cells. The jails in Hamilton County have gotten overcrowded. In an effort to be tough on crime, our politicians and law enforcement officials have placed a big effort in fighting the War on Drugs. In fact, in 2005, the City of Cincinnati seized 17,855 grams of cocaine. That is up from 11,090.74 in 2004 and 10,111.45 in 2003. In that same time period, there was also an increase in the amount of arrests for non-violent drug use, 13,252 arrests in 2005, 12,626 arrests in 2004, and 11730 arrests in 2003. A 13% increase in the three year period.

During the same three years, there was also an increase in the murder rate (up 21.5% from 2003, and up 14.4% from 2004) and rape rate (up 3% from 2003, and up 6% from 2004). As well, there was a drop in the number of DUI offenses, (down 12.2% since 2003, and down 2% since 2004).

This shows the exact failure of the War on Drugs. When one does not even consider the violence that arises from rival drug dealers fighting over turf, or violence caused by drug deals gone bad, one should be concerned by the fact that the police are using their resouces to go after non-vilonet drug offenders, rather than to fight violent crimes.

When one sees a reverse coorilation between the amount of drugs seized and the number of DUI arrests made, one should feel less safe about driving at night (for fear that there are more drunk drivers on the road). And when there is a coorilation between more non-viloent drug arrests and more violent crimes, it should be obvious that the War on Drugs is doing more harm to our cities than drugs could ever do.

And the only solution we seem to be doing is to build more jails or to export our criminals.

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/downloads/police_pdf10076.pdf