(Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts) In the late 1980s, every state and the District of Columbia had laws that imposed harsh penalties on drug offenses committed near schools. The idea behind the 'drug-free school zones' was to deter dealers at the height of a national crack cocaine epidemic from peddling drugs to children where they could be found most days. Now those laws are undergoing new scrutiny, as states revisit long sentences for drug crimes that have led to mass incarceration and as they face a new drug epidemic, this time opioid addiction. Some states, including Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky and Utah, are reducing the size of the drug-free zones as they seek to rid their prisons of...
↧