JAIL MORE LIKELY FOR BLACK DRUG USERS, STUDY FINDS

Black Hamilton County residents are sent to prison on drug
convictions 19 times more often per capita than whites, but local
District Attorney Bill Cox challenged the recent study that reached
the conclusion.

The study, compiled by the nonprofit Justice Policy Institute,
compared the nation's 200 largest counties. It stated that 97
percent of those counties sent blacks to prison more often than
whites for drug-related convictions.

Mr. Cox said the Justice Institute's claims are tied to a Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study showing that in
2006 about 8.9 percent of blacks admitted to using drugs in the last
month, and 8.5 percent of whites admitted to the same practices.

"There is a difference between being a drug user and being someone
who goes to jail for drugs," Mr. Cox said. "Drug users don't
typically go to jail. People who possess quantities of drugs for
resale go to jail."

The Justice Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C., reported
that, despite similar use patterns, black people account for more
than 50 percent of sentenced drug offenders, while they are about 13
percent of the nation's population. The research institution is
"dedicated to ending society's reliance on incarceration" and
promotes "appropriate alternatives" to it, according to its Internet site.

The institute found that in Hamilton County about 24 out of every
100,000 people are sent to state prison each year for a drug crime.
Whites are sent to prison at a rate of five per 100,000 white people,
while blacks are sent at a rate of about 95 per 100,000 black people,
the report found.

Walter Williams, a retired Chattanooga City Court judge now in
private practice, said the institute's findings confirm "what all of
us have been saying through the years."

"Crack cocaine users' sentencing was quite more severe than powder
cocaine users," he said.

Mr. Williams said often crack cocaine users are black, while powder
cocaine users tend to be white.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently amended the federal
sentencing guidelines pertaining to crack and powder cocaine,
lowering the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences for crimes.

According to a news release from the commission, the revised
guidelines will be applied retroactively to many offenders and likely
will mean reduced sentences for many of those sentenced under the old
guidelines.

Mr. Cox said he prosecutes people based on current laws. For the most
part the Tennessee General Assembly provides "a representation of the
public's values" when it enacts laws, he said.

Doug Berman, a sentencing expert at Ohio State University, suggested
that those who write the laws find certain drug offenses more acceptable.

"The drugs that are used by less advantaged communities are the ones
where we tend feel more comfortable with harsher sentences," he said.

"Why don't we have tougher sentences for drunk driving where wine is
involved?" Mr. Berman said. "Advantaged people would go up in arms. .
People in power find ways to keep sentences down on things that
impact their lives."

Amanda Petteruti, the report's co-author, said drug sentencing plays
a large role in the disparity, but policing practices also matter.

When communities get tough on crime, she said, more police patrols
are activated, which can result in more officers in black
neighborhoods and lead to more arrests for drugs there.

"Police are more likely to spot someone on a street corner than at a
college or university or in a suburban home," Ms. Petteruti said.
"And people that retain private counsel, and whites are more likely
to do that, are less likely to go to prison."

Those factors, along with mandatory sentencing guidelines, come
together and send blacks to jail more often, Ms. Petteruti said.

The report, she said, does not make suggestions on clear fixes.

"We advocate that counties take a closer look at how they are
spending their public safety money," Ms. Petteruti said. "Should we
be putting it in law enforcement, or would it be better spent on more
positive investments: education or employment training or any other
investment that would enrich the community as a whole?"

Tennessee laws are the same for powder and crack cocaine, but the
heavier weights of crack cocaine may result in longer prison terms,
said Ardena Garth, Hamilton County public defender. Crack, she said,
is heavier than powder cocaine.

Ms. Garth, whose office represents indigent defendants, said
communities should think about how increasing sentences and
criminalizing certain conduct affect people.

Many offenders find it impossible to return to society and get a job
after prison, which often results in convicts falling back into their
old habits, she said.

"Understand that calling for longer sentences and more punishment ...
the consequences is that you have a whole society that will never get
beyond a certain level," Ms. Garth said.