Page 6 - My FlipBook
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convicted in federal court generally carry harsher punishments
and longer sentences.
Drug offenders in both state and federal prisons are on av-
erage spending more time in prison than in the past. Accord-
ing to a 2018 Pew Charitable Trusts research report, inmates in
state prisons serve an average of 2.2 years behind bars for drug
offenses—a 36 percent increase over 1990. In federal prisons,
the increase is even larger. Federal drug offenders spend an av-
erage of 5 years in prison, as compared to 2 years in 1998. Lon-
ger sentences for drug crimes are the result of laws implemented
since the 1980s.
Inmates run in an enclosed prison exercise yard in Utah. People of every race,
gender, and age are in prison for drug offenses.
