Marijuana Decriminalization Drops Youth Crime Rates by Stunning 20% in One Year

[marmar]

The Center for Public Integrity / By Susan Ferriss

Marijuana Decriminalization Drops Youth Crime Rates by Stunning 20% in One Year
Arresting and putting low-level juvenile offenders into the criminal-justice system pulls many kids deeper into trouble rather than turning them around.

November 26, 2012 |


Marijuana — it’s one of the primary reasons why California experienced a stunning 20 percent drop in juvenile arrests in just one year, between 2010 and 2011, according to provocative new research.

The San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice (CJCJ) recently released a policy briefing with an analysis of arrest data collected by the California Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Statistics Center. The briefing, “ California Youth Crime Plunges to All-Time Low ,” identifies a new state marijuana decriminalization law that applies to juveniles, not just adults, as the driving force behind the plummeting arrest totals.

After the new pot law went into effect in January 2011, simple marijuana possession arrests of California juveniles fell from 14,991 in 2010 to 5,831 in 2011, a 61 percent difference, the report by CJCJ senior research fellow Mike Males found.

“Arrests for youths for the largest single drug category, marijuana, fell by 9,000 to a level not seen since before the 1980s implementation of the ‘war on drugs,’ ” Males wrote in the report, released in October. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/marijuana-decriminalization-drops-youth-crime-rates-stunning-20-one-year

[Trillo]

1. How does the state and corporate fix the psychology of all those prior youths

that were criminalized in the past and are now adults with dysfunctional beliefs regarding the cruelty of life? How might the state and private penal lobbyists repair the now-broken families? How?

[Jackpine Radical]

2. I'm not gonna answer your rhetorical question, but

sometimes the best you can do is to stop inflicting needless misery.

That said, the problem I'd start worrying about is what the DEA & penal industry are going to do to end the misery they'll be experiencing in their pocketbooks and inflated, fascist egos. I doubt they'll take this lying down.

When decency and humanity collide with money, money has a tendency to win.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Depending on the crime, I would start with expunging their records.

And as strange it seems, maybe an add campaign stating how in the past the law was less then fair.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. 'mistakes were made'

Sad, sad business indeed.

[Uncle Joe]

9. If history is an indicator of future behavior, they will come out with an apology and possibly

reparations; (long shot) in 30-60 years when most of that generation has died off, surviving numbers are low enough not to pinch the budget and ardent drug warriors are either dead and/or no longer taken seriously.

[Selatius]

31. Probably the shortest, most concise, yet sobering, post I've seen on the entire issue here.

It took decades for the United States to apologize to Japanese Americans for their internment during World War 2. That's one example off the top of my head.

[Fumesucker]

10. "Dysfunctional beliefs regarding the cruelty of life"?

I don't see those beliefs as being dysfunctional at all, life is indeed cruel, often deliberately so.

[Uncle Joe]

13. It becomes dysfunctional when any state practices or perpetuates unjust cruelty

against its' own people.

In the long term this can only lead to societal dysfunction, I also believe the longer it takes to correct itself, the more severe the consequences.

No doubt life is cruel but representative government (We the people) shouldn't go out of its' way to be so, ideally "general welfare" being the goal.

The same can be said for families, abusive parents and/or spouses create dysfunctional families only serving to perpetuate cruelty and injustice.

[NotThisTime]

19. My 17 year old has dysfunctional beliefs and a lousy sense of self, is a chronic pot smoker with no

criminal history. I have some theories, but one of the things that would have helped him was for his friends parents to stop smoking pot with him and to suggest going to a counselor instead. Those parents are much cooler than we are so who does he listen to? This is a kid who could have done anything, been anything, instead since his pot use started he has flushed school down the toilet and doesn't much give a damn what he does. Laws don't allow for us to do a damn thing about his mental health or drug use.

De-criminalize pot use for kids? Sure, but arrest the parents giving it to them.

[Trillo]

28. May your relationship with your 17-year old be healed.

If you can't figure out a way to heal that relationship, 17 years of age becomes 50 years of bitterness faster than you might think. May your feelings about your son find healing sooner rather than later.

[Le Taz Hot]

33. He's self medicating.

He's in pain, is self medicating and yet you're blaming his friends' parents who smoke pot with him? I've got news for you, he'd be ingesting with or without the parents. There's something else going on here and I doubt your denial and scapegoating is a solution to the problem.

And just for the record, no, I don't think people should be ingesting anything mind-altering with under-aged persons.

[xchrom]

4. Du rec. Nt

[RoccoR5955]

5. But think of the jobs that will be lost

because there will be fewer police needed, fewer jails, fewer probation officers. What will they do?

[freethought]

6. I'll give my two cents.

Could it be that in legalizing marijuana you take away its "forbidden" or illegal mystique that intrigues young kids in the first place. It's that quality that can draw teens and young adults to it, as they see it as being "cool". Take that quality away and it's no longer cool.

[Doctor_J]

12. I have another tin foil theory

If pot was legal, the demand for oxy would drop like a rock, and Big Pharma would lose a lot of money.

[HiPointDem]

30. +100. and the whole dysfunctional oppositional culture the PTB sell to youth as commodified

'rebellion'. it leads nowhere.

[meti57b]

7. $100.00 "ticket" for less than an ounce?!

Hey, that $100.00 prolly doesn't cover the expenses of "ticketing" .... so why don't we just make it legal. ..... in my lifetime! I promise not to stop drinking beer!

[Doctor_J]

11. My jury experience

I was summoned a couple years ago and the case that came up was a 19-yr-old Latina snagged for possession of 2 joints. When they asked if I had any opinions that might preclude me from being fair, I said, "I think prosecuting young people for simple possession is the biggest waste of my tax dollars I can think of, except the wars in the ME." I was excused and haven't been summoned since.

[6502]

14. [SERIOUSLY]=> Nobody wants their kids to do weed...

... and you weeders who would support it are such a small minority that your numbers are statistically insignificant.
(That's a fancy way of saying you're not worth counting. You don't matter.)

[marmar]

15. "You weeders"

The legalization genie is out of the bottle. Deal with it.

[NYC Liberal]

17. People don't want their kids smoking tobacco

but we don't throw people in jail for years with a permanent felony conviction on their record for it b

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. "You weeders"? Half the population supports legalization.

Now, I'm gonna go get all weeded up on pot. Or is it potted up on weed? I'll have to ask Steve Doucey.

[frylock]

21. you drunks crack me up

[geckosfeet]

23. Are u series11?

[SomethingFishy]

25. [Seriously]=> You need to get a fucking grip...

We "WEEDERS" just voted in LEGAL WEED in Colorado.

Yes we voted. In Colorado. And Washington. And we won. But our numbers are too insignificant to be counted...

Tell me Mr 6502, how is it that we won a MAJORITY OF THE VOTE if our numbers are so "statistically insignificant"?

[MrSlayer]

26. Wow. Just wow.

Weeders "doing" weed.

You really have no idea why this sounds so ridiculous, do you?

[uncle ray]

32. facts can be inconvenient.

Amendment 64 passed in colorado with 55% of voters supporting it. just how popular is pot? Colorado Springs' Gazette recently had this to say: &quot Amendment 64) garnered more votes than any presidential, gubernatorial or U.S. Senate candidate has ever received in Colorado."

i believe that is what they call a mandate.

[Le Taz Hot]

34. Welcome to DU.

Enjoy your stay.

[leftlibdem420]

16. I'm still not a decrim supporter, not even over the status quo.

As long as one has to buy marijuana from hucksters and criminals, it will not solve the problem of marijuana being a gateway drug (as unlike alcohol and caffeine, one must purchase them from people who sell dangerous hard drugs) and marijuana being a tool for funding organized crime and other undesirable things. The legalization of marijuana and of other soft drugs and the creation of viable, above-ground networks of distribution and production are the only ways to solve these problems.

[lark]

18. Decriminalizing pot is the answer

not making it corporately funded. Let the people grow it, take away the profit motive and the criminals will go away as well.

Of course, I'd be OK buying it at the corner store too, maybe government won't fight it so hard if they get a piece of it too?

[geckosfeet]

22. Not so sure. I prefer some form of control on my controled substances.

At least some kind of regulation for pesticides etc. This is my biggest gripe with street mj - you never know if or how it has been treated.

As far a the idyllic scenario of the friendly neighborhood mj grower, how do long do you think that will last once the thugs and gangs find out how much money is to be made? Instead of hiding from law enforcement you will be hiding from criminals.

I say let the out of work tobacco farmers get to work!

[Sirveri]

29. You're joking right. Look how much money disney makes, are they hiding from criminals?

People breaking into your business and stealing your stuff can happen, the difference is that if you're legal you can call the cops. They'll still try to rob you legal or not though.

[geckosfeet]

36. I am not sure I get your point.

There are a lot people making money off of pirated video and music. But Disney is a huge corporate enterprise. I don't see how that compares with small growers. And I don't see how public safety can be protected without some kind of regulation.

[Sirveri]

37. Theft is a reality for all businesses, legal or not, that means it's not a variable in the equation.

Would people be more likely to steal from a business because it's legal when it previously was not... Probably not, and when they're legal they can at least get some support from Law Enforcement.

Thieves will steal stuff, the legality of the business they're robbing doesn't factor too much into the equation. Shoplift pot from the pot store, shoplift clothing from the clothing store, either way it'll happen.

[Caretha]

35. You need to google Amendment #64

in Colorado. The amendment lays out how MJ can be produced/distributed & sold. It's not just a "here it's legal now - do as you will". They have modeled it after alcohol laws, and have steps to set up the bureaucracy for licensing, taxing, etc.

[Mr Dixon]

24. IMO

WOW some private Prison CEO’s are not going to like this..IMO

[liberal_at_heart]

27. I think WA is about to see an increase in juvenile arrests

[slampoet]

38. A lot of these prevented arrests would have been for youths selling to adults.

People seem to forget that a LOT of kids get into dealing pot because there is a large amount of adults who buy it from them.