Alexie Walker

EN 102

Synthesis Paragraph

24 February 2021

Synthesis Paragraph

Decriminalizing minor drug charges would be more beneficial to offenders later in life. In

his article “Taking Criminal Law Seriously: Toward Decriminalizing the Weakest Links of Drug

Trafficking in Colombia,” Joaquin Velez-Navarro argues that harsh drug policies are proven

ineffective and have done little to rehabilitate offenders. The outdated system of convicting

minor offenders in the drug world shows little mercy and continues to fail those who perhaps

need the most help. Not only is incarceration ineffective, but it also deters offenders from

escaping intergenerational poverty. In “Drug Policy and Intergenerational Income Mobility in the

United States,” Owen Thompson explains, “[A] drug conviction reduces the probability of

transitioning upward from various points in the lower half of the income distribution by 10-15

percentage points, or as much as 50%” (Thompson par. 1). Thompson’s point is that when people

in the lower level of the income bracket are driven to engage in illegal activity involving drugs,

charges notably hinder their opportunities later in life to overcome challenges of the past.

Velez-Navarro notes in his article that the stigma surrounding felons is a big reason for their

struggles reintegrating into society (43). Over the last 30 or 40 years, criminalization has been a

huge part of the War on Drugs. In that time, however, little improvement has been shown in

terms of rehabilitation and reintegration.

 Works Cited

Thompson, Owen. “Drug Policy and Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States.”

Contemporary Economic Policy, vol. 34, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 127–145. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1111/coep.12109.

Velez-Navarro, Joaquin. “Taking Criminal Law Seriously: Towards Decriminalizing the Weakest

Links of Drug Trafficking in Colombia.” Texas Hispanic Journal of Law & Policy, vol.

25, no. 1, Fall 2018, pp. 33–50. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=136472514&site=ehost-live

&scope=site.