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The Film | Tulia, Texas | The War on Drugs | U.S. Prison Rates and Population | Sources

The Film

TULIA, TEXAS
Get the “big picture” regarding Tulia—the place and the film—at the filmmakers’ site.

Independent Lens Community Cinema: TULIA, TEXAS Discussion Guide (PDF)
Discover background information about Tulia and find questions for “thinking more deeply,” resources, action items and more.

Tulia, Texas

Tulia: Race, Cocaine and Corruption in a Small Texas Town
By Nate Blakeslee
Public Affairs, 2006
Check out reporter Nate Blakeslee’s investigative account of the drug task force scandal in Tulia. Read the book review in The International Herald Tribune.

Tulia: Tip of the Drug War Iceberg
Published by the non-partisan organization the Open Society Policy Center, this 2005 report “examines the connections among racial profiling, law-enforcement misconduct and federally funded drug task forces.”

Friends of Justice
See reform in action. Founded in Tulia, this community-based criminal justice reform organization helped to advocate for the town’s former defendants. The site includes a blog and information on other campaigns.

H.R. 253: No More Tulias
Read a summary and updates on H.R. 253, the “No More Tulias” drug law enforcement legislation introduced by Texas Representative Shelia Jackson Lee.

The War on Drugs

Drug Policy Alliance Network
Learn about this national organization, which advocates for “new drug policies based on science, compassion, health and human rights and a just society.”

Race and the War on Drugs
Peruse a 2003 paper published by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) about the U.S. war on drugs and how its policies affect communities of color.

Flawed Enforcement (PDF)
Read this 2004 report from the ACLU of Texas http://www.aclutx.org/ which examines the flaws in the Texas state system of regional narcotics task forces.

War on Drugs Clock
Keep tabs on a ticking “clock,” which reports up-to-the-minute statistics about the costs and arrests related to the U.S. war on drugs, as well as other related stats.

Office of National Drug Control Policy
Explore the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), which establishes policies and objectives for America’s drug control program.

PBS.org: FRONTLINE: Drug Wars
View the companion site for the FRONTLINE/NPR series on America’s war on drugs, featuring interviews, videos, a timeline and more.

Justice Policy Institute: The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties
Read a comprehensive 2007 report regarding race, drug policy and imprisonment. Look at related articles and download fact sheets and maps.

Rockefeller Drug Laws Information Sheet
Examine a brief history of New York’s controversial Rockefeller drug laws presented by the Partnership for Responsible Drug Information (PRDI).

CSMOnitor.com: As many crack convicts are released early, will crime rise
Read this April 2008 article, which discusses the sentence reduction for thousands of crack cocaine felons.

NAACP: U.S. Sentencing Commission Follows NAACP Recommendation on Crack Cocaine Sentencing
Peruse this short article on the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s 2007 lowering of crack cocaine mandatory minimums.

The Sentencing Project
Get statistics and news regarding issues such as incarceration and racial disparity, disenfranchisement and drug policies from this criminal justice system reform organization.

U.S. Prison Rates and Population

1 in 100: (PDF)
Read this report about soaring prison costs and incarceration rates in the United States published in 2008 by the Pew Center.

NYTimes.com: 1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says
Examine thiss February 2008 article about the Pew report and the rising prison population in America.

Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison Statistics
View statistics, charts and reports about the U.S. prison population.

Sources