U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen added his voice Friday to the growing number of officials calling for reforms to end the nation's high rates of incarceration for nonviolent and lower-level drug offenders. In a speech to the criminal justice section of the American Bar Association's fall institute in Washington, Cohen, D-Memphis, also called for the collection of national statistics on the use of deadly force by law enforcement agencies. He said a bill he has introduced called the National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act would give lawmakers and the public "the numbers we need to measure the problem so we can figure out how best to address it." [continues 181 words]
But Most Don't Volunteer To Pony Up; Collections Usually Come After Arrests NASHVILLE -- Tennessee's tax on illegal drugs was a head-scratcher when the state legislature enacted it in 2004 -- What drug dealer would pay it? -- but it netted nearly $1.8 million in 2006, state tax collectors announced Tuesday. The Department of Revenue said it collected $1.774 million in "unauthorized substances tax" last year, up from the $1.715 million the tax generated in 2005, the first year it was collected. [continues 288 words]
Outpace enrollment as drugs dominate NASHVILLE - Drug offenses are by far the largest category of serious offenses under Tennessee's safe-schools "zero-tolerance" laws, which require suspension or alternative placement of students who violate them, according to a new study. And although zero-tolerance polices were enacted to deter students from committing serious offenses that threaten the safety of others at school, zero-tolerance offenses have increased at a significantly faster rate than student enrollment, the study by the state Comptroller's Office found. [continues 487 words]
