Rise in Drug Arrests & Convictions: Challenges & Loss of Rights - Essay Sample

Drug-related arrests and convictions rise each year. Drug use leads to criminal justice involvement, both directly and indirectly (Stamm & Area, 2020). Many convicted felons can lose some rights and face challenges, as discussed below.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Formerly incarcerated individuals find it hard to get work. It also becomes difficult for them to find a place to live that provides enough steadiness to maintain employment and take care of their daily tasks. When they are released, they find that family and friends already moved on or that some of them even died. The highest death risk for released prisoners within the first two weeks is drug overdose.

The potential causes of recidivism despite completing a drug treatment program are that the majority of prisoners suffer from addictive behaviors. They quickly fall back into old practices when they re-engage with those influences. Most of them also go back to using drugs because they were going through treatment to get out of trouble (Stamm & Area, 2020). The majority of the families have moved on by the time the inmate is out, which may lead to depression. This is because they have no one to take care of them. Some of them also have other underlying mental conditions apart from drug abuse.

A person found guilty of a drug abuse felony and was getting education aid is barred from the assistance for at least a year (Campagna et.al, 2016). If they are convicted for a second time, they are banned for two years, and if convicted for the third time, they are banned for life. These could lead them to commit crimes like robbery to meet their education finances.

Food stamp and security benefits are also withdrawn if a person is charged with a felony of ownership or sale of controlled substances. They lose these benefits if they are not in compliance with the terms of probation or parole (Belenko & Spohn, 2014).

Various theories explain drug use and misuse. The self-derogation theory explains that individuals will look for self-approval and therefore engage in drug abuse. This depends on the social evaluation of this pattern in the individual's reference groups. The beginning of drug abuse is a function of situation prompting the opportunities for, relevant, and consequences of drug use. The continued use of drugs is a function of the self-examined relevance of the perceived effects of drug use (Belenko & Spohn, 2014).

Self-esteem theory also explains about drug abuse. Individuals that depend on other people for their approval will usually experience shifts in their self-worth. They have a weak sense of self. They will often need constant support and admiration from other people (Belenko & Spohn, 2014).In the case that their esteem is low, the majority of them become suicidal. Some of them end up using drugs.

Suppose an individual is convicted of a drug felony and finishes their time in prison, life is never usually easy. Many of them lose their rights like the ones discussed above. These typically make them commit other crimes like robbery with violence to survive. In most cases, they get caught and end up back in prison.

References

Belenko, S., & Spohn,C., (2014). Drugs, Crime and Justice

Campagna, M., Foster, C., Karas, S., Stohr, M. K., & Hemmens, C. (2016). Restrictions on the Citizenship Rights of Felons: Barriers to Successful Reintegration. Journal of Law and Criminal Justice, 4(1), 22-39.

Stamm, J. B., & Area, M. H. I. D. T. (2020). An Examination of the Relationship between Drugs and Crime in the Midwest.