Name Sydney Reid Essays (924 words) - Cannabis,

Name: Sydney Reid College ID: 0591992 Thomas Edison State University General AOJ-102 Section no.: Writing Assignment #1 Semester and year: Aug 2017 In this paper, we will be going over what I think is the most important crime that has a great effect on the criminal justice system of the United States of America. First, I will be mention ing why marijuana drug criminalities are the biggest plague in the criminal justice system . Next , we will talk about the positive and negative impact on the criminal justice system if marijuana were legalized everywhere . Lastly, I will go over how the Trump administration stands on marijuana and how it could affect the criminal justice system. The most significant crime that has the biggest impact on the criminal justice system , in my opinion , is marijuana drug - related crimes. Of course , this does not pertain to drug crimes that end in homicide, but simply possession or intent of selling charges of marijuana. "Marijuana arrests were about 13.6 percent more than the 505,681 violent crimes arrests mad e in 2015" (Williams, 2016). In early attempts to racially stigmatize a drug which was first known as cannabis, changing of its name were in attempts to undermine the people that consumed this drug. It was documented in the 1970's about how new drug laws targeted minority groups to achieve mass incarceration, so from the 1980's to 2009 , there was a big increase in the criminal justice system for drug related offenses. Some of the issues have since been resolved through the legalization of marijuana use in some states, and because of this move, those states are capitalizing on its profit and less law enforcement pres ence with marijuana. This , "... could become a conflict between the current presidential a dministration and the states because in the latter administration, states were given ultimate control of their recreational marijuana use laws" (Krishna, 2017). Positive impacts that marijuana legalization would have on the criminal justice system would be a gigantic increase in savings for appropriate system regarding lesser criminal arrests. "Colorado alone is estimated to potentially save $12-$40 million dollars over a year by ending arrests for marijuana possession" (Roberts, 2014). There would also be less money spent on housing inmates for short periods of time beca use of minor charges which save taxpayers' dollars. Negative impacts that marijuana legalization could have on a particular society begins with youth utilization. It is believed that over 10 percent of Colorado youth were marijuana users according to a re port by the Rocky Mountain High- Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. This has driven school- related suspensions and expulsions due to drug violations. These effects impact the criminal justice system in unforeseen ways. We cannot predict how the youth will turn out as adults, meaning, whether they stay on the legal side of marijuana use or become so addicted that they conduct more violent crimes for their vice. "It seems the long-standing tension between state marijuana law reform and federal prohibition is headed for a big confrontation " (Kamin, 2017). This statement comes from a perceptive idea because of the appointment of Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Sessions is one of the country's biggest anti-drug spokesmen. It is believed that the president is once again going back on his word because he stated that "marijuana legislature should be left to the states", but the white house press secretary Sean Spicer stated that "states , where recreational marijuana use is legal , will be subject to greater enforcement". This would mean for many unsolved answers that are currently in our criminal justice system. In turn , this would have an impact on all of the formal stages of the criminal process. This is an issue that our country faces today that some say has a slim chance of getting better with more leniencies on marijuana. Who knows where this will end up in the years to come? In conclusion, we discussed why I think marijuana drug crimes are the ones that a ffect the criminal justice system of the United States of America mostly. Also, how it was used as a targeting method in the early