Editor's Note: Criminal Injustice

Abstract

ven prison walls cannot muffle the foremost critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. From her cell, Leila de Lima, a member of the country’s Senate, calls the 71-year-old ruler a “geriatric dictator wannabe” involved in “mass serialized murder.” Duterte had promised that his administration would be “bloody,” and after less than a year in power, he’s lived up to his pledge—as well as his sadistic nickname, “the Punisher.” Human rights organizations estimate that there have been over 7,000 vigilante executions of Filipino citizens accused of dealing or using illegal drugs. But, as Lima says in our Conversation section, Duterte’s “brutal crackdown has proven to be ineffective and only lead to more violence.” Though the Philippines may be an extreme case, many governments have taken a punitive approach to drug control, ignoring overwhelming evidence that favors a public-health strategy. Harsh punishment, militarized policing, and extrajudicial killings have yet to make any society safer or freer of banned substances.