Racial Disparities in Drug Sentencing DetailedJune 8, 2000
Research Summary
Black Americans have borne the brunt of the war on drugs, and are imprisoned at a far higher rate for drug crimes than their white neighbors, the Associated Press reported June 8.A report by Human Rights Watch found that blacks -- who make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population -- comprise 62 percent of drug prisoners. Whites and Hispanics, who make up 82 percent of the population, represent just 36 percent of those imprisoned on drug charges. "These racial disparities are a national scandal," said Human Rights Watch Executive Director Ken Roth.
The rate of incarceration in state prisons for drug offenses is 13 times higher for black men than for white men -- even though there are five times more white drug users than blacks.
Federal officials said that blacks may tend to be more chronic drug users than whites, or use harder drugs, which they said might explain the disparity in imprisonment. Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Barry McCaffrey blamed the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s for the disparity.
Jamie Fellner, the author of the report, said the way to address the inequity in drug imprisonments is not to jail more white people, "but to reduce the use of prison for low-level drug offenders and to increase the availability of substance abuse treatment."
The study, "Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs," looked at incarceration rates in 37 states, UPI reported June 7. The states with the highest racial disparities were Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, Iowa, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina and West Virginia. In these states, blacks were sent to prison on drug charges 27 to 57 times more often than white men.
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