tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107037609455779557.post8187403026008572681..comments2024-02-28T05:56:28.293-08:00Comments on California Correctional Crisis: Congress Moves to Reduce Crack/Powder Cocaine DisparityHadar Aviramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15200780666976305749noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107037609455779557.post-22794614696444520962010-07-29T07:30:06.215-07:002010-07-29T07:30:06.215-07:00I think this is at least partially explained as a ...I think this is at least partially explained as a symbolic move toward racial equality. It is, of course, more than symbolic, and involves some savings and more lenient sentencing; but it is also one of several moves by the Obama administration to make decisions in several fields that correct racial inequities created by previous administrations.<br /><br />The other explanation, methinks, might be part of a general humonetarian trend with regard to drugs. The Holder memo, ordering federal prosecutors to refrain from messing with CA marijuana usage and dispensation, was justified partly as a savings mechanism. This might be part of the same trend.Hadar Aviramhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15200780666976305749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107037609455779557.post-73192185762758101052010-07-28T23:33:23.770-07:002010-07-28T23:33:23.770-07:00I remember back when crack was spoken of as someth...I remember back when crack was spoken of as something near to a biblical plague back at the crest of the crime wave in the late 80s and early 90s. Everyone expected the 1990s to be that much worse with "ice" (the new crack) and "superpredator" teenagers, neither of which came to pass.<br /><br />Still, the human costs were pretty staggering, and it does deserve mention that those fell particularly hard in the black community. Levitt and Dubner in Freakonomics had a chapter discussing in part the impact of crack cocaine and the degree to which it coincided with a stoppage or reversal of upward trends in many socioeconomic and human development indicators within the African American community that had started to improve during and after the civil rights era. You still hear bitter conspiracy theories at times that crack or the drug epidemic in general was cooked up by the government to counter the civil rights movement.<br /><br />Remembering back to that, I'm not sure how to contextualize this development. Did we conclude that the cure was ultimately worse than the disease (perhaps especially if it's effect on the disease was marginal or ambiguous)? Did we win the war? Lose it? Call a truce? Decide it never was as much of a priority as we thought?Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08067759626108987472noreply@blogger.com