- Published: January 21, 2022
- Updated: January 21, 2022
- University / College: University of Bristol
- Level: Doctor of Philosophy
- Language: English
- Downloads: 17
The paper ” The Drug War as Race War” is a great example of a case study on law. On a Wednesday, January 7 there was a major case involving the distribution of narcotic drugs in Jefferson County in America. The federal bureau of investigations arrested the men who had earlier been convicted by a grand federal jury of operating a cartel that organized and trafficked heroin, prescription painkillers, and cocaine among other in the west of the county. The traffickers had been charged with colluding to distribute drugs such as cocaine, bhang, heroin, oxycodone, alprazolam, codeine, suboxone and hydrocodone between the months of August 2013 and November 2014. The men involved in the drug trafficking were Spriggs, Watson, and Abernathy, who were charged with trafficking more than one thousand grams of heroin. Another part of the scam was Scotts, Bells, and Edwards, who were charged with participating in a conspiracy to traffic an amount of heroin which was in excess of one hundred grams. Sprigs and Watson had a second count of indictment charges; they were accused of being in possession of and having the intention to distribute oxycodone and heroin from Fairfield in Alabama. The drugs were hidden in a house whose location was within one thousand feet of a school known as Fairfield High School on 17th of July. Scott, Watson, and Priggs were faced with a third count of possessing heroin with the intention of distributing it on 8th August 2014. The same was charged with eleven counts except for Scotts, where they were using telephones in order to facilitate the crime of distributing the said drugs.
The indictment charges saw a judgment where the defendants would forfeit one million US dollars to serve as proceeds for their illegal activities. The defendants were to face various penalties if found guilty of the counts of the crime charged against them. The penalty for conspiring to illegally distribute narcotics and other drugs is a maximum of twenty years imprisonment and one million dollars fine. If the accused will be found guilty of conspiring to distribute heroin in excess of one thousand grams, they will face ten years imprisonment and a fine of ten million US dollars each. Pertaining to the third count of conspiring to distribute heroin in excess of 100 grams, the defendants would face five to forty years imprisonment and five million dollars fine. If the accused will be found guilty of possession of oxycodone with the intention to distribute, they will face twenty years of imprisonment and five million dollars fine. Since they were found in possession of the drugs within one thousand feet of a school, the penalty would double if found guilty (United States Department Of Justice, 2015).
The prosecution of the case will be done by Gregory R. Dimler, the Assistant U. S Attorney General. The cases have not yet been heard in a court of law. The Federal Bureau of investigations is convinced that the evidence that they have is enough to convict the defendants of their respective crimes. The various articles of the American constitution that the accused broke will be in effect during the prosecution.
The prosecution of the six accused and the effective dispensation of a fair trial will have various effects on the jurisdiction that is Jefferson county as well as other regions in the country. First, the arrest of the criminals shows that the security apparatus of the American government is very keen on what is happening on the ground. The same shows how serious the government is at ensuring that there are no cases of drug trafficking in America at all costs. The confiscation of the drugs and the evidenced an intent to distribute by the accused parties, presents the prosecutors a chance to convict the suspect criminals. This case impacts the supply of drugs in Jefferson County positively. Definitely, there will an experienced reduction in the drugs and narcotics supplied in the western part of the county. (Nunn, 2002).
The reduced supply of the narcotics drugs will lead to reduced intake of the drugs by the consumers hence striving towards achieving the goal of eliminating drugs. Another milestone that will possibly be achieved is further confiscation of drug peddlers and suppliers. The criminals will provide the investigators with information which may be useful in arresting other distributors of drugs in the county and wider areas. More to that, the arraignment of the suspects in a court of law will make other narcotics distributors in the county and other places reduce their activities from the fear of being arrested and facing similar charges in courts of law. All these will affect the supply side of drugs in Jefferson county jurisdiction and beyond hence reducing the availability of the drugs to abusers.