Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Winter 1998
ISSN
0041-9494
Publisher
University of Chicago Law School
Language
en-US
Abstract
In the following pages, we first describe in more detail how the Drug War’s financial largess has kept its soldiers in business. We then discuss the destructive impact of this economic regime, marshaling evidence to show that the corruption of law enforcement priorities and wholesale miscarriages of justice can be attributed to the operation of these incentives. Finally, we explore potential legal and legislative remedies through which law enforcement may regain its bearings.
Our investigation focuses on the economic underpinnings of current drug law enforcement policy. Drug policy also raises an extraordinarily broad range of moral, health, and criminological concerns, which we do not discuss except insofar as the financial incentives we describe have interfered with attempts to address them. We take no position here on such pivotal issues as legalization or decriminalization, but hope to speak to abolitionists and prohibitionists alike. All sides should be able to agree that, at a minimum, the law enforcement agenda should not be held hostage to the opportunities for financial self-aggrandizement we describe herein.
Recommended Citation
Eric D. Blumenson & Eva S. Nilsen,
Policing for Profit: The Drug War’s Hidden Economic Agenda
,
in
65
University of Chicago Law Review
35
(1998).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3942
Included in
Criminal Procedure Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons
