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Crackdown & Get Tough
In 1980, Ronald Reagan trounces Jimmy Carter in the presidential election, and a new era dawns. Liberalism is out; conservatism is in. Touting smaller government and rugged individualism, Reagan spearheads a return to traditionalism, patriotism, and family values. The social safety net is disappearing, and an attack on abortion is in full swing. An AIDS epidemic is ignored in this righteous climate because of the status of its first casualties. Reagan presides over a concerted local and federal law-enforcement approach to drugs, a social problem that is increasingly seen as an immoral scourge. Nancy Reagan launches her "Just Say No" campaign against drugs in 1984. Retribution and free will are back with a vengeance. Criminals are believed to deserve harsh punishment. Though the call is for a shrinking government, the criminal justice system expands as never before. Money pours into agencies large and small for increasingly advanced equipment and more personnel. The war on drugs escalates to fight a cocaine cartel. Crack bursts onto the scene. A rash of get-tough legislation results in longer sentences and reduced use of probation and parole. Prison building cannot keep up with the booming inmate population, and as soon as a facility is completed it is overcrowded. The economics of corrections are staggering and growing exponentially. Privatization of prisons enters the penal mix. The death penalty enjoys a resurgence as more and more states reincorporate it as a viable punishment. To be accused of being "soft on crime" is the political kiss of death. With little thought to the consequences or where it will lead us, the nation goes after crime, drugs, criminals, and addicts with a bloodthirsty vengeance. |