Document Type
Article
Abstract
A tenfold increase in prison populations has occurred due to the policies and laws enacted by the War on Drugs campaign in the United States. This increase is the direct result of a rise in the incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders. Rearrest rates for nonviolent drug-related offenders sentenced to prison are 50%. For those offenders permitted to participate in a drug court program, this rate decreases by over half. In West Virginia, the battle against the opioid epidemic has caused it to become one of the fastest-growing prison populations in the nation. With a fast-emerging crisis on the rise, West Virginia state officials are seeking a solution. This Article will argue the answer lies in investing in state and federal community-based drug court programs that already exist. Not only are these programs more cost-efficient, but they are successful in preventing relapse and recidivism on a long-term scale—a result mass incarceration has been unable to achieve over the past fifty years.
Recommended Citation
Kendra Amick,
Nonviolent Drug Offenders Need Treatment--Not Prison: The Solution to Prison Overcrowding in West Virginia,
126
W. Va. L. Rev.
835
(2024).
Available at:
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/wvlr/vol126/iss3/6
Included in
Courts Commons, Food and Drug Law Commons, Litigation Commons