RACIAL BIAS PERSISTS IN DRUG ENFORCEMENT

Though America has made strides against discrimination, troubling
pockets of race-based bias persist. Case in point: Two recent national
reports documented drug enforcement practices that unfairly arrest and
imprison African-Americans at much higher rates than whites.

Reports by the Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch use federal
data to document effects of the nation's 30-year war on drugs. Both
conclude that the policies have had a devastating impact on
lower-income, inner-city blacks. While the number of drug arrests rose
1,100 percent since 1980, disproportionate numbers of blacks were
arrested and jailed for possession -- even though both races use
illegal drugs at the same rates.

Those findings are consistent with research done on the Twin Cities
and Minnesota by groups such as the Twin Cities-based Council on Crime
and Justice. Combined, the studies support the need to rethink
approaches to drug abuse and minor drug offenses.

According to the Human Rights report, African-American men are nearly
12 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug convictions as whites.
Between 1980 and 2003, in large cities, drug arrest rates for blacks
rose at three times the rate for whites. The widest gap is in
Wisconsin; 42 blacks are imprisoned for drugs for every one white.
Minnesota ranks 11th with a 10-1 ratio.

This drug strategy has had consequences. The steady climb of arrests
and jail time has not resulted in fewer drugs, only more prison beds.
Black communities suffer when arrest and jail records lock men out of
jobs. Unequal treatment also contributes to mistrust and suspicion of
the criminal justice system within communities of color. And the time
that police and prosecutors devote to lower-level drug cases can take
attention away from more violent crimes.

Steps to reduce the disparities are underway. Minnesota is among a
number of states that have begun using drug courts and expanded
treatment options. In 1991, then-Hennepin County District Court Judge
Pam Alexander eliminated sentencing differences between powder and
crack cocaine because they were racially biased. Last December, the
U.S. Sentencing Commission finally followed her wise lead.

On another discrimination note, last week the American Medical
Association issued a formal apology for years of bias against black
doctors -- including barring them from the association for decades.
The AMA also apologized for failing to support anti-discriminatory
legislation. And national and local studies continue to reveal racial
bias in areas such as housing, banking and health care.

Despite advances, this nation clearly has a long way to go to achieve
racially equal treatment. On drug enforcement, more resources should
be shifted into treatment and other alternatives for low-risk
offenders. The system must adopt policies that fight crime and promote
social and racial justice.