UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA:  A major new study has revealed disturbing insights into how many young American males are now being arrested across the nation.

According to the study, nearly half of black males and 40% of white males in the United States are arrested by age 23.

Just one arrest can ruin someone’s life, limiting their ability to find work and receive an education.

If the person is then imprisoned, it can be even worse as they can be abused, raped, or forced into prison slave labor while generating profits for politicians and prison corporations.

Another study in the same journal reveals that criminal

Because cops choose to sheepishly follow the orders of the US government, tens of thousands of innocent Americans are arrested each year for having a plant that the government claims is “illegal.”

The study was published in Crime & Delinquency, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to analyzing the criminal justice system.

“The study provides the first contemporary findings on how the risk of arrest varies across race and gender,” says Robert Brame in a press release.

Brame is a Professor of Criminology at the University of South Carolina and is the lead author of the study.

The study analyzed national data from 1997 to 2008 of teenagers and young adults and their arrest histories.

By far, most of these young adults are arrested for the “crime” of having substances which the US government claims to be “illegal” in its War on Drugs.

Police made more arrests for the War on Drugs than anything else in 2012. Over 1.55 million were “drug abuse violations,” with up to 42% involving mere marijuana possession, far surpassing the amount of arrests for actual violence, according to reports.

It’s the equivalent of a marijuana arrest every 42 seconds.

The official numbers from the study may be even greater than 50% of black males and 40% of white males arrested, since the study does not include arrests for minor traffic violations.

Brame also points out that the findings are racially significant due to the higher prevalence of arrests of black males.

“A problem is that many males – especially black males – are navigating the transition from youth to adulthood with the baggage and difficulties from contact with the criminal justice system,” Brame says.

“States vary on the age that adolescents are considered adults in the eyes of the criminal law, some as young as age 16 and 17,” he says.

“Criminal records that show up in searches can impede employment, reduce access to housing, thwart admission to and financing for higher education and affect civic and volunteer activities such as voting or adoption. They also can damage personal and family relationships.”

Most people are arrested or imprisoned for non-violent, victimless “crimes.”

Related: Number of Americans in Prison Now Exceeds Number of Highschool Teachers and Engineers

Shawn Bushway, another professor of criminal justice who helped produce the study, says it’s the first study to “use nationally representative data to provide estimates of lifetime prevalence of arrest by race and sex.”

The study’s key findings include:

• By age 18, 30 percent of black males, 26 percent of Hispanic males and 22 percent of white males have been arrested.

• By age 23, 49 percent of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic males and 38 percent of white males have been arrested.

• At age 18, arrest rates were 12 percent for white females and 11.8 percent and 11.9 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively. By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 16 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively.

The study adds even more details to the conclusion of a previous study that shocked the nation, wherein it was found that one in three Americans are arrested by the age of 23.

Brame says the next step is to develop an understanding of the economic, social and law enforcement factors that can influence arrests and what role gender and race play.

“As a society, we often worry a great deal about the effects of children watching television, eating junk food, playing sports and having access to good schools. Experiencing formal contact with the criminal justice system could also have powerful effects on behavior and impose substantial constraints on opportunities for America’s youth,” he says.

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“We know from our two studies that these experiences are prevalent and that they vary across different demographic groups. Going forward it will be constructive to support systematic studies into the sources of these variations and to continue efforts to understand the effects of criminal justice interventions on sanctions on future behavior.”