Page 47 - 名媛直播 - Knighted 2019

observed in a study conducted throughout seven states in 2000, nearly three decades after the
conception of the 鈥淲ar on Drugs,鈥� indicating that 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders in
prison were of African-American descent (Fort 48).

New legislation, specifically the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, imposed new
minimum sentences and harsher punishments for petty drug offenses (Alexander 53). The
Anti-Drug Abuse Act targeted African Americans by applying equal punishments for 鈥渢he
sale of five grams of crack cocaine, associated with blacks, and the sale of 500 grams of
powder cocaine, associated with whites.鈥� (Graff 124). This racial targeting can be observed
through statistics indicating that 80 percent of people convicted under the Anti-Drug Abuse
Act are African-American, despite African-Americans composing only a marginal percentage
of all crack cocaine users (Nadelmann 23).

A notable consequence of the 鈥淲ar on Drugs鈥� is an increase in privatized prisons and
their populations. Lichtenstein observes the nearly ten times increase of inmates since the
1970s, and recognizes it as a direct result of the 鈥淲ar on Drugs鈥� (Lichtenstein, 鈥淔locatex鈥�
115). Additionally, the number of beds in private prisons increased from 70,000 in the 1990s
to 128,000 in 2010 (Lichtenstein, 鈥淔locatex鈥� 121).

Much like the convict-lease system, one of the prison-industrial complex鈥檚 main
purposes is to mitigate cost. States use the prison-industrial complex as a means to eliminate
cost and stimulate the economy through 鈥渢he neoprivatization of corrections鈥� (Lichtenstein,
鈥淔locatex鈥� 120). Lichtenstein describes in depth how 鈥渟tates pass the laws, appropriate most
of the resources鈥�[and] lease the facilities to private contractors鈥� (鈥淔locatex鈥� 115). This
system operates under the assumption that the private sector is more financially efficient.

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