THE DRUG WAR'S RACIAL TINGE

Human Rights Watch, which usually focuses on other parts of the world,
recently took the measure of America's drug policies, concluding in a
report that "the war on drugs has been waged disproportionately against
black Americans."

And nowhere, it appears, more so than in Illinois, where, the study said, a
black man is 57 times more likely than a white man to be jailed on a drug
conviction. That's a greater disproportion than in any of the 36 other
states in the Human Rights Watch study, and more than four times the
national average of 13 times.

Political and law enforcement leaders here ought to be asking themselves
some tough, searching questions about how drug laws are written and enforced.

Using statistics for 1996, Human Rights Watch described a "crisis of
overincarceration" in the United States, suggesting links between current
anti-drug strategies and racial bias or indifference to black communities.
It called for repeal of minimum sentencing laws, more rehabilitation
options other than prison, and more effort against drug kingpins, as
opposed to low-level users or dealers.

Critics pointed out that there are some legitimate explanations for at
least some of the huge racial disparity in punishment for drug offenses.
For one thing, the drug trade and drug usage tend to be carried on more
publicly in poor, largely black city neighborhoods, as opposed to the
relatively private dealing and usage behind picket fences in largely white
suburbs. Thus, it becomes easier for police to capture black offenders.
Additionally, the involvement of gangs and guns in the city drug trade
makes for more violence--and more police attention.

And even with all that, many residents of drug- and violence-plagued city
neighborhoods would say the police don't arrest and imprison enough of the
people who make their streets unwalkable and their neighborhoods unlivable.

Those are legitimate criticisms, but not enough to explain away a disparity
the size of Illinois'. And all, of course, are predicated on the existence
of a drug-control regime that fosters a black market and creates, virtually
by definition, much of the crime for which black suspects are
disproportionately punished.

The Cook County state's attorney's office denies race is a factor in drug
prosecutions. And, in fact, State's Atty. Dick Devine has created a program
that gives suspects facing their first or second drug arrest a choice of
treatment and monitoring over a criminal record.

Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan's office says he'll take a deeper look at the Human
Rights Watch study. A deeper look is definitely needed.