Week 9 Assignment: Presentation 200 Points Possible Overview For this final assignment, you will prepare a brief paper detailing the steps undertaken to complete a presentation that disseminates infor

Gap Analysis

Katherine Alexandre

Capella University

SWK5006

Dr. Dean-El, VonTija

November 9, 2025

Gap Analysis Introduction

The policies developed in the U.S. War on Drugs have remained to influence the racial disparity in the criminal justice system, specifically the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Despite being aimed at lessening drug-related harm, the law enforced a 100: 1 sentencing ratio between crack and powder cocaine, and this measure was one of the causes of decades of inappropriate incarceration of Black Americans (U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2022). The gap analysis will explore the existing issue, policy changing opportunity, oppressing mechanisms, the outcomes wanted, and the expectations. According to the values of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the evaluation will conclude that the policy has not fulfilled the values of social justice, dignity, and equity and that the policy needs some amendment.

Current Situation and Opportunity for Change

In the 1986 Act, there were binding minimums that imprisoned crack cocaine crimes much more severely than powder cocaine even when the two drugs were pharmacologically alike. Even a 5-gram crack was punishable by the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as 500 grams of powder cocaine (U.S. Sentencing Commission, 2022). Since the policing of crack was more intense in low-income Black neighborhoods, the law created extreme racial disparities: the federal crack convicted more black people than national surveys indicated, despite the similarity between drug use among races (Alexander, 2020). This provides a natural policy change opportunity since the remaining sentencing inequality will still manifest racial inequity. The disparity still exists despite the ratio being cut to 18:1 by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 by Congress. The War on Drugs was based on punitive measures, which discriminated against Black communities even though there was no evidence that those measures were effective at crime reduction (Tonry, 2019). The existing state is an acute ethical issue with social workers. The NASW Code of Ethics emphasizes the need to oppose unfair policies and support fair treatment (NASW, 2021). The remnants of the 1986 Act need to be reformed in order to implement a just sentence and decrease historical racial differences. Why Improvement Is Necessary This has to be improved as the existing structure perpetuates the types of structural and institutional discrimination. The Act accelerated the growth of mass incarceration of Black people by raising the number of minimum requirements and reducing judicial discretion (Alexander, 2020). The long-term impacts of the families of an imprisoned partner are most likely to be disrupted, have a weak economy, and disadvantaged across the generations. It has also been evidenced that the initial formulation of the crack cocaine was influenced by racialized discourses. The study of Goulian et al. (2022) discovered the unique aspects of U.S. media and political rhetoric according to which crack is more often attributed to the Black population, which is characterized as more dangerous, although in pharmacological terms, there is no reason to punish it more severely. This moral panic of racialization helped the policy to pass and propagate dangerous stereotypes over decades. There is thus need to improve to eliminate racial bias, match punishment with scientific evidence and to decrease avoidable incarceration. The policy reform would also contribute to the fact that the people would trust the legal bodies as they would have recognized and resolved the historical wrongs. Forms and Mechanisms of Oppression in the Policy The Anti-Drug Abuse Act was a system of institutional racism, which had disproportionate effects although it was not mentioned directly in writing. The media representations of the 1980s disproportionately presented black people as the embodiment of the so-called crack epidemic and influenced the formation of fear among the population and the desire of legislators to take appropriate measures (Goulian et al., 2022). Mandatory minimum sentences introduced a long sentence without considering situations on a case-by-case basis, taking away discretion by the judges and negatively affecting the underprivileged defendants (Alexander, 2020). Law enforcement Commissioners had focused on arresting drugs in the predominantly black neighborhoods yet national surveys indicated equal or greater drug use by Whites (Tonry, 2019). Such policies denied victims a chance to secure jobs, disenfranchised their victims, and denied them housing, which contributed to sustaining the poverty-disenfranchisement linkage (Alexander, 2020). The policy, through these mechanisms, increased structural inequalities and made current marginalized groups criminal. Desired Future Situation / Outcomes of the Proposed Change The desired future would have been the desired fair, proportional and of racial equitable nature. Discrimination of the 18:1 gap in sentencing would do away with one of the most longstanding forms of institutional discrimination in the federal drug policy. The reform would decrease racial inequalities in prisons and aid in breaking one of the pillars of mass incarceration (Alexander, 2020). The drugs would be guilty as well on the basis of the scientific evidence that depicts the fact that there is minimal disparity between the pharmacology of crack and powder cocaine (Tonry, 2019). There would be increased individuals staying with their families and communities, and this would lead to the enhancement of the social and economic stability of the overall society, in general. The systems of discriminatory sentencing can also be destroyed, and it is in the spirit of the NASW values of justice and dignity to all humans (NASW, 2021). Challenges or Obstacles to the Proposed Change The abolition of the disparity is not smooth sailing without facing difficulties that make the process hard. Political opposition is not active either because there are still lawmakers who believe that the punitive approach to drugs works despite the evidence on the contrary (Tonry, 2019). The wrong notions about the crack cocaine as something that is particularly damaging to the population can still spread the stories that have caused decades of racialization. Formations of decades of enforcement of drug policies form the institutions that might be stubborn to change due to the fact that reforms destabilize the existing systems. Although the difference may have been erased, the problems of retroactivity and the re-sentencing procedure of the victims of the past laws remain. Despite these challenges, the bipartisan support and the increasing pressure of the public opinion over the matter of racial injustice have strengthened the Grass to the end of the needle. Conclusion The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 is a symbolic representation of how the policy against drug abuse can become a source of upholding systemic oppression when designed in racially charged environments. Although the current sentencing disparity is perpetuated by the chronic sentencing issue being reformed by such measures as the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act, some of the harms have been minimized, yet the disparity is still present in the criminal justice system. This inequality and the processes of creating racial formations of injustice should also be eliminated, and the U.S. drug policy would be adjusted to the requirements of fairness, dignity and social justice. The advocacy of these changes entails a significant role of social workers whereby the policy decisions are not discriminatory but in favor of equity.

References

Alexander, M. (2020). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness (10th anniversary ed.). The New Press.

Goulian, A., Jauffret-Roustide, M., Dambélé, S., Singh, R., & Fullilove, R. E. (2022). A cultural and political difference: Comparing the racial and social framing of population crack cocaine use between the United States and France. Harm Reduction Journal, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-022-00625-5

National Association of Social Workers. (2021). NASW Code of ethics. NASW Press.

Tonry, M. (2019). Rethinking the War on Drugs. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(3), 343–355. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12465

United States Sentencing Commission. (2022). Cocaine and federal sentencing policy: Report to Congress. https://www.ussc.gov/research/reports/cocaine-and-federal-sentencing-policy