Dealing with Drugs
Sarah has been using illicit drugs since she was a young girl. She first tried marijuana at a middle-school dance. She has progressively advanced her illicit drug usage, and today at the age of 24 she regularly uses cocaine, marijuana, PCP, and other “recreational” drugs. Sarah argues that she is not hurting anyone, not even herself, with her illicit drug usage. She believes the misuse of drugs is a moral question rather than a legal one.

One night Sarah is coming home from a night of partying and is involved in a minor traffic accident. The police are called, and they find a small bag of cocaine on the passenger’s seat of Sarah’s car at the scene of the accident. Sarah is arrested for possession of an illicit drug. At Sarah’s arraignment, her lawyer argues that Sarah has a drug problem. Sarah refuses to accept this and argues she should not be considered a criminal for doing so. After all, she has never sold drugs and what she does with her body is her personal choice.

You are an intern working for the defense attorney, and she has asked you to prepare a written report that details key aspects of education and treatment for illegal drug use, as well as information related to legalization and decriminalization. Your report will include defining current legislation related to treatment versus imprisonment, as well as what a drug court is. You must also define the terms legalization and decriminalization and provide five (5) arguments for legalization and decriminalization of illicit drug use on a personal basis. It is her hope that this information will aid the court in deciding what action to take in Sarah’s case.

Deterring Crime

You have learned about the Classical School and the Positive School of Criminological Thought. Each school has major propositions about the causes of crime. For this question, focus on the Classical School and the two famous writers, Bentham and Beccaria, who espoused many of the classical school principles.

Thinking about these writers and their focus on deterrence, analyze a community’s use of surveillance cameras as a way to deter crime. For example, recently four youth were caught on tape vandalizing a fishpond in front of a teacher’s house. The fish were all killed because the boys put some toxins in the water. In addition, the property around the fishpond was destroyed. The camera, located in a neighbor’s yard, had been installed to keep speeders from speeding through the residential area. Clearly, however, the camera was installed to act as a deterrent (e.g., a crime prevention strategy).

How would you rate the effectiveness of the video camera as a deterrent?

In explaining your answer, you should explain what Benthan and Beccaria said about deterrence, the three main components of deterrence, and the two types of deterrence. Then analyze this information in relationship to the surveillance camera.