Federal drug-war funding worked by incentivizing state and local adoption of harsh policies

Evidence

Given that only a small percentage of drug offenders are prosecuted in federal courts, the most substantive aspect of these two Acts was the appropriation of billions of dollars in federal funds to be distributed to states that adopted policies consistent with this new drug war. State and local jurisdictions used these federal funds to hire an additional 100,000 police officers, create multiagency drug task forces, hire new prosecutors, and build and operate new correctional facilities to accommodate the planned influx of drug offenders (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1063

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the structural-incentive logic in Milgrom’s institutions work and the general theme of federal power reshaping local practice.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1063