dealers vs users

Taking on the problems in the criminal justice system is not at the top of the list for most candidates but it deserves some attention. The main complaint is that many of those in prison are just drug users and they should be in treatment centers not jails. It is difficult to find data that separates drug users from drug dealers and this is an important factor. Both of these crimes are called victimless because when a dealer is convicted there is no victim standing in the court room but there are victims scattered around the city that could be called into court. It is commonly agreed that much of the street crime in cities like Chicago is caused by drug dealers and users. Dealers fighting over turf cause many injuries and deaths and these represent the victims who were not in court at sentencing time. The President is releasing many of these criminals and if they are users they will likely become users once again and if they are dealers they should not be released until they have served their time but even that won’t help much since the recidivism rate for both of these groups is high running about 70%. When someone says that the President released prisoners convicted of drug crimes, it is important that they break that down into drug dealers and drug users.