One interesting piece of legislation that the author discussed was that of the Rockefeller Drug Laws of 1973. The penalties put in place because of these drug laws are far more excessive than that of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. The Rockefeller laws required a sentence of 15 years to life for any person convicted of selling two ounces or possessing four ounces of a narcotic, regardless of circumstances or prior history (Law, 2012). The author reveals outrageous statistics that followed the creation of the Rockefeller Drug Laws and similar laws that other states had passed in the years following. With these drug sentencing laws in place the number of women imprisoned nationwide for drug offenses rose 888% from 1986 to 1996 (Law, 2012). It could not be any clearer as to why the female incarceration rate has been on the rise over the past several
One interesting piece of legislation that the author discussed was that of the Rockefeller Drug Laws of 1973. The penalties put in place because of these drug laws are far more excessive than that of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. The Rockefeller laws required a sentence of 15 years to life for any person convicted of selling two ounces or possessing four ounces of a narcotic, regardless of circumstances or prior history (Law, 2012). The author reveals outrageous statistics that followed the creation of the Rockefeller Drug Laws and similar laws that other states had passed in the years following. With these drug sentencing laws in place the number of women imprisoned nationwide for drug offenses rose 888% from 1986 to 1996 (Law, 2012). It could not be any clearer as to why the female incarceration rate has been on the rise over the past several