FEWER BLACKS JAILED FOR DRUG CRIMES

U.S. Prison System Sees Increase In Number Of Whites Convicted

WASHINGTON - For the first time since crack cocaine sparked a war on
drugs 20 years ago, the number of black Americans in state prisons
for drug offences has fallen sharply, while the number of white
prisoners convicted for drug crimes has increased, according to a
report released yesterday.

The Washington-based Sentencing Project reported the number of black
inmates in state prisons for drug offences had fallen to 113,500 in
2005 from 145,000 in 1999, a 21 per cent decline.

Over the same period, the number of white drug offenders rose
steadily, to more than 72,000 from 50,000, a 42 per cent increase.
The number of Latino drug offenders was virtually unchanged at about 51,000.

The findings represent a significant shift in the racial makeup of
those incarcerated for drugs and could signal a gradual change in the
demographics of the nation's prison population of 2 million, which
has been disproportionately black for decades. Drug offenders make up
about a quarter of the overall prison population.

The Sentencing Project report and other experts said the numbers
could reflect two factors: an increased reliance by prosecutors and
judges on prison alternatives such as drug courts, and a shift in
police focus to methamphetamines, which are used and distributed
mostly by white Americans.

The report relied heavily on data compiled by the federal Bureau of
Justice Statistics and covered six years ending in 2005, the last
year the bureau broke down the state prison population by race and drug offence.