Drug Crimes: The Case for Abolition
Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law, Forthcoming
38 Pages Posted: 5 Jun 2024
Date Written: May 30, 2024
Abstract
Nonwhite communities experience higher rates of arrest, prosecution, and incarceration than white communities for drug offenses, and these disparities have persisted even in the wake of decriminalization and legalization. Although a diverse array of political stakeholders increasingly agree that drug policies should be reformed, they are nearly unanimous in their opposition to abolition. While select drug crimes may be worthy of reduced punishment or conversion into civil offenses, these stakeholders contend that the abolition of criminal institutions will inevitably jeopardize public safety. This Article challenges the widespread presumption that drug law and policy correlates with the protection of the public. Drug crimes are, instead, an essential vehicle for the subordination of nonwhite people and for the misallocation of resources across racial groups. Part I of the article contests the presumed correlation between illicit drugs and violence and illuminates how drug criminalization erodes individual and collective safety. Part II addresses how drug policy sustains white and American hegemony, respectively, by legitimating racist ideologies and by justifying force against marginalized people both in and outside of the country's borders. Finally, Part III explains how abolition represents a viable path away from the harms of prohibitionist policies. * Assistant Professor of Law, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. For thoughtful comments and feedback, thank you to Amna Akbar, Jamelia Morgan, and the participants at the 2023 Drugs and Public Safety symposium.
Keywords: Drugs, Drug Criminalization, Prohibition, Drug Crimes, Abolition, Hegemony, Race
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