ILLINOIS WORST STATE FOR RACIAL DISPARITY
AMONG JAILED DRUG OFFENDERS, STUDY SAYS

NEW YORK - The war on drugs in the United States has been waged
disproportionately against blacks, with about twice as many blacks in
prison on drug-related charges than whites, according to a study
released Thursday.

In Illinois, the report found the worst rate of racial disparity among
drug offender admissions in the country: Black men are sent to prison
on drug charges at 57 times the rate of white men. And blacks
comprise 90 percent of all prison admissions in that state for drug
charges -- the highest percentage in the country.

Nationwide, blacks make up about 62 percent of prisoners incarcerated
on drug charges, compared with 36 percent of whites, according to the
research. Census figures indicate that blacks make up about 13
percent of the U.S. population and whites -- including white Hispanics
- -- about 82 percent.

"We as a nation can't afford to have such an astonishing percentage of
our population in prison, especially when so much of it has to do with
drugs," said Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Watch associate counsel and
author of the report.

Fellner said the solution to the inequity is "not to incarcerate more
whites but to reduce the use of prison for low-level drug offenders
and to increase the availability of substance abuse treatment."

Black men nationally are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a
rate about 13 times that of white men, the study said. On average,
482 of every 100,000 black men sentenced to prison are sent there on
drug charges, compared with just 36 of every 100,000 white men.

The group said the numbers are especially striking because of federal
studies that show white drug users outnumber black drug users 5-to-1.

The study was based on 1996 figures provided by 37 states to the
Justice Department. The study doesn't include data for states that
did not report statistics that year.

The study did not differentiate between individuals imprisoned for
drug dealing as opposed to drug use.

Experts at the Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics, a division of
the Justice Department, say one reason for the disparity could be that
drug abuse among blacks tends to be more chronic and involve harder
drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin.

Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, told The New York Times that the high rates for blacks
imprisoned on drug charges stem from the crack cocaine epidemic of the
1980s.