According to Judge Robert Street, simply ending the criminilization of marijuana would take 450,000 arrests out of the sytem. Arresting and locking up these individuals does very little to slow down the drug trade in the country. What is even more disconcerting is that in many cases, these nonviolent offenders are going into the system relatively harmless and coming out as hard-core criminals. Many first-time drug offenders sentenced to long terms turn into professional criminals. While imprisoned, these individuals are trapped in a world crime, and they start to make connections.
Prisons become breeding grounds, leading to a vicious cycle.
The negative effects of prison overcrowding have also trickled down into all aspects of the criminal justice sytem. The unbelievable amount of arrests feed directly into the courts. In addtion, court officials have had their hands tied because of the mandatory sentences in many states. These allow the prosecutors and judges little discretion over the necessity and severity of punishment in the courts. The set-up of the sytem only exacerbates the problem.