BLACKS UNFAIRLY TARGETED IN FIGHT ON DRUGS, REPORT SAYS

Crime: Study by Human Rights Watch finds African Americans make up 62% of
imprisoned narcotic offenders, despite accounting for 13% of U.S.
population.

Charging that the war on drugs has been waged disproportionately against
blacks, Human Rights Watch today will release a report showing that 482 of
every 100,000 African American men are in prison for a drug crime, compared
with just 36 of every 100,000 white men.

The study, titled "Punishment and Prejudice," also found that blacks make up
62% of the nation's imprisoned drug offenders, despite accounting for just
13% of the population. In half a dozen states, the disparity is even
greater, with blacks comprising 80% to 90% of all drug convicts behind bars.
In every state, they are more likely than white men to be incarcerated for
such crimes--from North Dakota, where the odds are double, to Illinois,
where the ratio is 57 to 1.

"These racial disparities are a national scandal," said Ken Roth, executive
director of the New York-based watchdog organization, which touted the
report as the first state-by-state analysis of its kind. "Black and white
drug offenders get radically different treatment in the American justice
system. This is not only profoundly unfair to blacks, it also corrodes the
American ideal of equal justice for all."

The report, funded by billionaire investor George Soros' Open Society
Institute, adds to the already bleak statistical portrait of inner-city
America, which has served as the drug war's front line. But as with similar
studies, its interpretation--and the appropriate target for outrage--is a
matter of considerable debate.

Cost of Prison 'Cure' Seen High

To Human Rights Watch associate counsel Jamie Fellner, who authored the
report, the numbers paint a "devastating picture of the price black
Americans have paid" for the country's failed battle to control illicit
drugs. "While drug abuse and drug trafficking warrant concerted national
efforts," she wrote, "it may be that the human, social and economic cost of
the prison 'cure' is worse than the 'disease' itself."

Conservatives, however, derided those conclusions as "inflammatory," arguing
that racially distinct outcomes, in and of themselves, are not evidence of
racially biased policies. "There will be inevitably, inherently, disparities
of all sorts in the enforcement of any kind of law," said Todd Gaziano, a
senior fellow in legal studies at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative
think tank. "I'm sure you can find disparity among racial groups as to
whether their ZIP Codes end in odd or even numbers. It doesn't prove
anything."

Because the illegal drug trade tends to flourish in economically depressed
communities, conservatives contend, it may be that blacks simply commit more
drug crimes than whites--or, at least, the kind of drug crimes that are more
likely to result in a prison term. If that is the case, they say, then
inner-city black neighborhoods are the ones that most benefit from putting
drug offenders behind bars.

"Why on Earth are people who claim to be civil rights advocates defending
the predators in these communities?" asked David Horowitz, president of the
Los Angeles-based Center for the Study of Popular Culture and the author of
"Hating Whitey and Other Progressive Causes."

The answer from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) is that a black teenager
standing on a corner with a baggie of crack should be viewed as a scapegoat,
not a villain. He provides a convenient target for law enforcement, "but a
19-year-old, low-level drug dealer in South-Central L.A. is not responsible
for the devastation of the community."

Rather, Waters believes outrage--and prison time--should be reserved for
those who allow international traffickers to move their drugs and money in
and out of the U.S. As an example, Waters pointed to a recent Senate
investigation that rebuked Citibank for helping the brother of former
Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari transfer tens of millions of
dollars in alleged drug profits out of his country, a case that resulted in
no charges of wrongdoing against the banking conglomerate.

"Blacks get treated differently," she said.

Situation for Blacks Called Catastrophic

The numbers contained in the Human Rights Watch report, regardless of
politics, describe a catastrophic situation for black America. Relying on
1996 prison admission data from the National Corrections Reporting Program,
the study for the first time calculated per capita incarceration rates for
drug offenders in the 37 states that participated.

Illinois topped the list, with 1,146 of every 100,000 black men (compared
with just 20 of every 100,000 white men) in prison for a drug offense. Ohio
followed, with a rate of 968, then Kentucky, at 869. The report compared
those numbers with the rates for white men and ranked the states according
to the degree of racial disparity. Illinois again led, with blacks 57 times
more likely than whites to be incarcerated for drug crimes. Wisconsin
followed, with a 54-to-1 ratio, then Minnesota, at 39 to 1.

California's per capita rate for black drug offenders--669 of every
100,000--was the nation's seventh highest. But because California's total
black population is smaller than that of many Southern and Northeastern
states, the disparity with whites was among the lowest; even so, African
American drug offenders here are five times more likely than whites to land
in prison.

The report offered no explanation for any state's ranking, and few states
were volunteering an opinion. "I'm reluctant to draw any conclusions based
on a report that's a mystery to me," said a spokesman for Illinois Gov.
George Ryan.

Human Rights Watch, whose stated goal is to make governments around the
world "pay a heavy price in reputation and legitimacy if they violate the
rights of their people," concludes with several policy recommendations:

* Repeal mandatory minimum sentences;

* Increase the availability of drug treatment;

* Eliminate racial profiling.

"If this were happening to whites," Fellner said, "the policies would
change."

Racial Disparity

States in which blacks comprise the highest percentage of imprisoned drug
offenders:

1. Maryland: 90%

2. Illinois: 90%

3. South Carolina: 86%

4. North Carolina: 84%

5. Louisiana: 82%

California: 30%

U.S. average: 62%

States that have the most disparate ratios between black and white men
imprisoned for drug crimes:

1. Illinois: 57:1

2. Wisconsin: 54:1

3. Minnesota: 39:1

4. Maine: 36:1

5. Iowa: 29:1

California: 5:1

U.S. average: 13:1

Source - Human Rights Watch