Kyle Zagon
Why did the government’s approach to drug issues become more punitive during the “Crack Epidemic”?
Comments
It’s striking to see policymaking on this issue quantified like this — good work. —Rob Reichle
Thank you, it was an interesting experience to reduce broad trends in law to numbers that can be extrapolated into trends. Moving forward, I am looking to do more qualitative analysis of the punishment and rehabilitation titles during the Crack Epidemic, as an equal number of titles passed does not necessarily mean that there was equal investment in these two policies. For example, many of the punitive laws involved increased criminal sentences for drug offense, while the rehabilitation laws can be as symbolic as instituting Red Ribbon Week in schools. —Kyle Zagon