Giving Compass' Take:

• Drug-free school zones was a policy that had good intentions but poor implementation in effectively increasing student safety. 

• What might a policy approach around drug use in schools be more productive? 

• Read more about student drug use and appropriate punishment in schools. 

In 1970 a new trend in narcotics law began to spread: Legislators began creating Drug Free School Zones, imposing harsh penalties on drug crimes committed within them. The theory behind these zones was straightforward: kids are the last people we want drug dealers to target; schoolyards are the last place we want them plying their violent trade; so why not create an incentive to keep drugs elsewhere?

You can see the problem: If a community subjects all areas with drug abuse to harsher penalties, the incentive to keep drugs away from schoolyards vanishes.

We found several instances of judges chastising police for setting up undercover buys in drug-free school zones, and criminal defense lawyers told us it was not an uncommon occurrence,” said Ciaramella. “It's contrary to the entire purpose of the zone—to keep drugs out—and gives the appearance that police are more interested in slapping drug offenders with enhanced sentences than keeping kids safe.”

When a policy doesn’t achieve its intended purpose, regularly incentivizes the opposite outcome, and hits the poor and racial minorities harder than everyone else, it ought to be repealed. Implemented with the best intentions, they’ve failed as an experiment, doing more to increase the power of prosecutors than the safety of children.

Read the full article about drug-free school zones  by Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic.