DANE COUNTY 3RD NATIONALLY IN RACIAL DISPARITY

A new study says Dane County in 2002 sent 97 black people to prison
for drug offenses for every white person incarcerated for the same
category of crimes, for a ratio of racial disparity the survey showed
was the 3rd highest in the nation among big counties.

And while there could be many reasons for that result -- the study did
not, for example, consider the offenders ' prior criminal history --
the authors believe policing practices, such as where police choose to
enforce the drug laws, play an important role.

"In an urban setting, it 's easier to spot the drug trade on the
corner than it is to spot the drug trade in a suburban household,
where police would have to knock down the door, or in a private
college dorm, " said Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the
Justice Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that
advocates alternatives to incarceration such as job training,
education and public health programs.

The findings were based on the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau
of Justice Statistics for counties with more than 250,000 people. The
study also found that Milwaukee County sent blacks to prison for drug
offenses at 15 times the rate of whites, while Waukesha County did so
at 24 times the rate of whites, compared to a national average among
big counties of 10 times the rate of whites.

The two counties with higher rates of racial disparity than Dane were
Forsyth County, N.C., at 164 times, and Onondaga County, N.Y., at 99
times.

The study 's findings appear to be another example of a long-standing
problem of disproportionate numbers of minorities in Wisconsin 's
corrections systems.

In January, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency reported
that black youths in Wisconsin are imprisoned at nearly 20 times the
rate of young whites. In response, Gov. Jim Doyle appointed a
statewide commission to propose solutions.

"There 's a huge racial disparity in the drug war virtually everywhere
in the U.S., " said commission member Pam Oliver, a UW-Madison
professor of sociology who has studied the issue. "Dane County has an
extremely high racial disparity rate because we have a quite high
black incarceration rate compared to an extremely low white
incarceration rate " for drug offenses.

The tough part is figuring out why that is, Oliver said. Public health
data has long shown that illegal drug use is about the same among
blacks and whites, Oliver said, noting she agrees with Ziedenberg
about the importance of where police focus their efforts.

"You tend to catch more drug dealers where you look for more drug
dealers, " she said.

But Oliver also said police can make the case that they pay more
attention to low-income, urban neighborhoods, which tend to be more
heavily populated by minorities, because there 's often more violence
associated with drug dealing in those areas.

Focusing on low-level users and dealers to reduce drug use, though, is
often ineffective, Oliver said, because short sentences mean the
offenders, who are often addicts, are soon back in the neighborhood
with criminal records that make getting a job or going to college much
harder, challenges that make staying clean more difficult.

"It 's a complex issue, " she said. "Poverty certainly plays a role,
segregation plays a role, all kinds of things play a role. What
actually works to reduce drug use is to focus on education and
treatment, to work on the demand side rather than the supply side.
"

The commission, co-chaired by Madison Police Chief Noble Wray and
state Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, is due to make its
recommendations by Jan. 31. Its membership includes representatives
from law enforcement, the legislature and the judiciary as well as
religious and business leaders and private attorneys. Its goal is to
develop strategies to reduce racial disparities at each stage, from
arrest to parole.

"The commission is concerned about all these issues, " Oliver said.
"There is a diversity of opinion about what to do, but not a lack of
awareness of the problem. "