From: [b--ld--p] at [xmission.xmission.com] (Bwaldrop) Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.politics.libertarian,alt.society,resistance Subject: DRUG WAR STATISTICS Date: 25 Dec 1993 20:34:37 -0700 DRUG WAR STATISTICS These statistics are all taken from the STATISTICAL ABSTRACT OF THE UNITED STATES. All data are for the year 1990 (most recent available, I think) unless otherwise specified. PEOPLE IN JAIL: 1,144,214 (distribution: 688,084 in state prisons, 50,810 in federal prison, 405,320 in local jails) PEOPLE UNDER AUTHORITY OF THE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM: 4,053,900 (prison, parole, probation) REGARDING OFFENDERS SENTENCED TO PRISON IN US DISTRICT COURTS: Average sentence for a violent offense: 89.8 months. Persons sentenced for violent offenses in 1980: 1,770; in 1990: 1,999. Average sentence for possession of illegal drugs: 13.1 months. Average sentence for illegal drug sales: 83.5 months. Persons sentenced to prison for illegal drug offenses in 1980: 3,675; in 1990: 13,754. THEREFORE: The number of violent criminals sentenced had a minor increase 1980-1990. Persons sentenced for War on Drugs offenses increased 400%, 1980 to 1990. ------------------------- REGARDING VIOLATIONS OF THE "DRUG ABUSE PREVENTION AND CONTROL ACT" (DAPCA): In 1980, 1,690 defendents were charged with offenses relating to Marijuana under DAPCA, of which 1,121 were convicted, 569 were not convicted; 754 went to prison with an average sentence of 47.2 months. In 1990, 5,139 defendents were charged with Marijuana offenses under DAPCA -- a 300% increase over 1990, of which: 4,128 were convicted (3,624 on a guilty plea), 1,011 were not convicted (915 were dismissed); 3,004 went to prison, average sentence of 48.9 months. In 1980, 3,290 defendents were charged with other drug offenses under DAPCA, of which 749 were not convicted and 2,541 were convicted; 1,945 went to prison with an average sentence of 60.8 months. In 1990, 12,649 defendents were charged with other drug offenses under DAPCA, of which 1,850 were not convicted (1,506 were dismissed); 10,799 were convicted (8,423 by a guilty plea); 9,804 went to prison with an average sentence of 86.2 months. At an average cost of $30,000/year/prisoner (that stat is not from the Statistical Abstract), each of the 9,804 "other drug offense" prisoners in 1990 who went to prison cost the taxpayers $221,403 for incarceration costs. The jail cost of sentences of that year's "batch" of new prisoners for drug (non-marijuana) offenses is $2,440,723,248. Each marijuana "criminal" sentenced in 1990 cost an average of $92,451 for incarceration, or $277,722,804 for the 1990 batch of federal cannabis criminals. NOTE: These financial data are for federal prisoners only. There are actually more people sentenced for drug crimes in state courts (and lower) than there are in the federal system. Since the state prison population is about 13 times the population of the federal prison system, if we make (an admittedly) big assumption that the state and fed systems have similar proportions of drug/marijuana criminals and sentence drug/cannabis "criminals" to similar sentences, we multiply those figures for the federal system by 13 to arrive at a proxy for 1990 state incarceration costs: PROXY for 1990 incarceration costs, persons sentenced in state courts for marijuana felonies: $3,610,396,452. Combined state/federal cost: $3,888,119,256. PROXY for 1990 incarceration costs, persons sentenced in state courts for other drug felonies (as in "non-marijuana-related"): $31,729,402,224. Combined state/federal cost: $34,170,125,472. PROXY FOR TOTAL INCARCERATION COST OF PERSONS SENTENCED FOR ALL DRUG FELONIES, STATE AND FEDERAL LEVELS IN 1990: $38,058,244,728 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Proxy" means this is _heavily qualified_ by the assumptions noted above. It should be possible to find and develop actual data for each state of the quality of that reported in the State Abstract of the U.S. for the feds. On the basis of that -- which would include numbers of people actually sentenced, average sentence, cost of incarceration in that state -- a hard number could be developed for the incarceration costs. This analysis could be extended backwards and we could develop figures such as this for each year, which would supply some kind of "grand total" for (e.g.) 20 years of drug war incarcerations. Whatever the numbers are, from the indications of these preliminary data, it might be a very shocking figure. These data do not consider other factors, such as costs of investigation and arrest, trial, counsel (although note the high numbers of people who either plead guilty OR get their cases dismissed). SOME FINAL DATA: In 1990, the "drug arrest total, per 100,000 inhabitants" was 437.5, for a total of 1,083,750 arrests for "drug crimes". (In the Stat Abstract, there is a data discrepancy between Table 302, which lists 869,000 drug abuse violations, and Table 304, "Drug Arrest Rates for Drug Abuse Violations".) From Table 304: 326,500 of the 1M arrests were for marijuana violations. These figures include state and local arrests. In 1980, $246,344,000 in assets were seized relating to 15,727 arrests and 10,519 convictions for drug crimes. In 1990, $1,068,268,000 was seized ($862,361,000 by the DEA), in the course of 22,800 arrests and 15,529 convictions. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN EXPANDING THIS ANALYSIS, to the point where we could say make a definitive estimate, from government statistical abstracts, of the dollar cost of incarceration in the War on Drugs, send me private email. Maybe we can divvy up the researching, pile it all into a big spread sheet. I invite criticism and critique of my numbers (especially the arithmetic ). So, peer review and critique and if I don't have the right numbers, let's get them so we can show people exactly how much of their tax money is being poured down the rathole of locking people up under Prohibition. Bob Waldrop [b--ld--p] at [xmission.com]