Read John Stossel
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Read John Stossel “bullet” I had been meaning to get around to talking about James Q. “Broken Windows” Wilson’s guest blogging stint at Volokh. It was a horrible series of posts (fortunately thoroughly ridiculed by the commenters) basically making the point that are high incarceration rate might not be such a bad thing — with bizarre notions thrown […] This article helps point out the absurdity of some people’s thinking when it comes to drug prohibition. Trenton is considering reducing the size of drug free school zones from 1,000 to 200 feet. Here’s the predictable idiotic response: “Reducing the zones would have our children pass through a ( phalanx ) of drug dealers every day,” said school board Vice President Alexander Brown. “This would bring drug trafficking 800 feet closer to our schools. Some legislators believe the zones have placed a hardship on drug dealers. To me, I say ‘tough.’” Of course, that’s a lot of absurd nonsense. Here is the actual story: “If 96 percent of the people incarcerated under the drug-free zone law are black or Hispanic — groups that only make up 20 percent of our state’s population — it’s not a fair system,” said Roseanne Scotti, director of the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey. Nobody actually knows where the zones are, so it isn’t a deterrent. It’s just a way of tacking on punishment for a certain class of people. It doesn’t in any way affect the availability of drugs to children. Because inner cities are so dense, the zones practically blanket the entire area — well of course that won’t stop drug sales, but it does mean that when black people are caught selling drugs, the DA can add on the zone charge. Officials across Mercer County said they would support changing the penalties for dealers caught in a drug-free zone, but reducing the zones to 200 feet would be disadvantageous to students. I’ve written City Council President Pintella to ask him if drug trafficking is legal in Trenton except in drug free zones (which certainly seems to be his implication). I’ll let you know if I get a response. |
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