THE DRUG WAR ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS

As one who has written extensively on disparities in the criminal
justice system, I am familiar with assorted statistics associated with
selective prosecution. The Justice Policy Institute recently released
a comprehensive study on the issues of race, poverty, unemployment and
selective prosecution within the context of the so-called war on drugs.

The report's conclusion was blunt: "The drug war is primarily being
waged against African American citizens of our local jurisdictions,
despite solid evidence that they are no more likely than their white
counterparts to be engaged in drug use or drug delivery behaviors."

The study is titled, "The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug
Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties." It examined
detailed data from 198 large counties (with a population of more than
250,000) that contains 51.2 percent of the U.S. population.

"In 2002, African Americans were admitted to prison for drug offenses
at 10 times the rate of whites in the 198 largest population counties
in the country," the study found. "Ninety-seven percent (193 out of
198) of the large-population counties have racial disparities in drug
admission rates."

If African-Americans used and sold drugs at higher rates than Whites,
that might be understandable. But, as this and other studies have also
found, that's not the case.

Citing one federal survey, the report noted, "In 2002, there were
approximately 14 million white Americans who had used drugs in the
previous month, compared to about 2.6 million African Americans who
had done so. In other words, there were five times as many whites
using drugs as African Americans.

However, our analyses indicate African Americans were admitted to
prison for drug offenses at nearly 10 times the rate of whites."

Black youth are also selectively prosecuted.

"According to the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey conducted by the
National Institute on Drug Abuse, African American adolescents have
slightly lower illicit drug use than their white counterparts -
whether for illicit drug use generally or for use of a wide variety of
specific drugs, including crack cocaine...However, in 2003, African
Americans youth were arrested for drug abuse violations at nearly
twice the rate of whites."

All of these factors contribute to the fact that the U.S. imprisons
more of its citizens than any other country in the world.

For the first 70 years of the 20th century, the U.S. incarceration
rate remained stable at roughly 100 per 100,000 persons. Since 1970,
the rate has risen to 491 per 100,000, almost five times the previous
level.

Fueled by mandatory sentencing and get-tough drug laws, the rate at
which people have been incarcerated has also soared. Between 1995 and
2003, the number of people in state and federal prisons on drugs
offenses increased by 21 percent, from 280,182 to 337,872. However,
from 1996 to 2002, the number of those imprioned for drug increases
jumped by 47 percent, from 111,545 to 164,372.

A report from the Justice Policy Institute in 2000 showed that Whites
admitted to prison for drug offenses increased by 115 percent between
1986 and 1996. Over that same period, the rate for Blacks increased by
465 percent.

Increased imprisonment has been accompanied by increased prison
expenditures. According to the American Association of Correctional
Association, the cost of housing drug offenders in state and federal
prisons totals $8 billion a year.

Counties with the highest drug admission rates were, in order: Kern,
Calif.; Atlantic, N.J.; Orleans, La.; St. Louis City, Mo.; Camden,
N.J.; Cuyahoga, Ohio; Jefferson, La.; San Bernardino, Calif.; Cook,
Illinois and Alameda, Calif.

Counties with the lowest rates were: Washington, Ore.; Cumberland,
Maine; Fairfax, Va.; Wake, N.C.; Rockingham, N.H.; Bucks, Pa.; Howard,
Md.; Montgomery, Md.; Guilford, N.C. and Mecklenburg, N.C.

"On average, counties with higher unemployment rates, higher poverty
rate, and larger percentages of African American citizens tend to have
higher rates of admission to prison for drug offenses," the report
stated.

Phillip Beatty, coauthor of the study, said, "Laws - like drug laws -
that are violated by a large percentage of the population are
particularly prone to selective enforcement. The reason African
Americans are so disproportionately impacted may, in part, be related
to social policy, the amount spent on law enforcement and judiciary
systems, and local drug enforcement practices."

To reduce the drug incarceration rate, emphasis needs to be placed on
other factors that contribute to the likelihood of one becoming
involved in drugs and going to prison, experts say.

Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute,
observed: "Rather than focus law enforcement efforts on drug-involved
people who bear little threat to public safety, we should free up
local resources to fund treatment, job training, supportive housing,
and other effective public safety strategies."