Section I: Crime & Punishment in the U.S.
Drugs
- Pounds of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and hashish (combined) seized by the federal government, 1989118: 1,343,702
- Pounds of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and hashish (combined) seized by the federal government, 2000119: 2,856,462
- Value, in dollars, of all assets seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration from 1992 to 2000120: $5.5 billion
- Percent of population stating that arresting drug users would be very effective at controlling drugs121: 30%
- Percent stating that drug use should be treated more like a disease than a crime122: 52%
- Percent of public believing that a small amount of marijuana should not be treated as a criminal offense123: 46%
- Number of antitrust cases filed in U.S. District Courts, 1975124: 1,467
- Number of antitrust cases filed in U.S. District Courts, 2000125: 901
- Number of sentences given for drug law violations in federal court in 1975126: 4,887
- Number of sentences given for drug law violations in federal court in 2000127: 23,120
- Number of years of imprisonment given to federal drug offenders convicted in 1999128: 152,528
- Minimum number of states that conduct random drug tests on prisoners129: 43
- Number of prisoner samples tested for drugs in 2000130: 2,027,386
- Number of prisoner samples testing positive for drug use in the facility, 2000131: 61,044
- Of the 50 states, D.C. and the federal Bureau of Prisons, number of prison systems that drug test all employee applicants132: 12
- Of the 50 states, D.C. and the federal Bureau of Prisons, number of prison systems that drug test all correctional officer applicants133: 33
- Of the 50 states, D.C. and the federal Bureau of Prisons, number of prison systems that perform random drug testing on all employees of the institution134: 8
This page is an excerpt from The Prison Index: Taking the Pulse of the Crime Control Industry (2003) by Peter Wagner, published by the Western Prison Project and the Prison Policy Initiative. Footnotes for all facts are available in the print version.
