Washington, DC: A new report released Tuesday by the Justice Policy Institute states that 193 out of 198 counties studied imprison African Americans at markedly higher rates for drug offenses.
The report found that African Americans are ten times more likely to be imprisoned for a drug offense, despite the fact that whites and African Americans use and sell drugs at comparable rates. In addition, the report found no correlation between the rate at which people are sent to prison and the rate at which drugs are used in a given county. Instead, high county drug prison admission rates were associated with the size of county police and judiciary budgets, the proportion of the county’s population that is African American, and higher poverty and unemployment levels.
In 2002, over half of the 175,000 persons admitted to prison for drug offenses nationwide were African American, according to the report. African Americans make up less than 13 percent of the U.S. population.
The authors cite differences in availability of drug treatment for African Americans compared to whites, mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and disparate treatment by police and the courts as factors contributing to the racial disparities in drug imprisonment rates.
In response to their findings, the authors call for a de-escalation of the drug war, a comprehensive policy review and reform of current drug law enforcement practices that are focused in the African American community. They also urge increased funding in public services to help curb drug addiction. "Rather than focus law enforcement efforts on drug-involved people who bear little threat to public safety, we should free up local resources to fund treatment, job training, supportive housing, and other effective public safety strategies," stated JPI executive director Jason Ziedenberg.
Full text of the report "The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties," is available online at: http://www.justicepolicy.org/content.php?hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=69.
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