Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs
Facts… at a Glance

Racial Profiling

Nationwide, black men are sent to prison on drug charges at 13 times the rate of white men.

"Most drug offenders are white. Five times as many whites use drugs as blacks. Yet blacks comprise the great majority of drug offenders sent to prison."

"Blacks are just 12 percent of the population and 13 percent of the drug users, and despite the fact that traffic stops and similar enforcement yield equal arrest rates for minorities and whites alike, blacks are 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those convicted of drug offenses. Moreover, more frequent stops, and therefore arrests, of minorities will also result in longer average prison terms for minorities because patterns of disproportionate arrests generate more extensive criminal histories for minorities, which in turn influence sentencing outcomes." (LCCR)

"Among persons convicted of drug felonies in state courts, whites were less likely than African-Americans to be sent to prison. Thirty-three percent (33%) of convicted white defendants received a prison sentence, while 51% of African-American defendants received prison sentences."

"Black and Hispanic Americans, and other minority groups as well, are victimized by disproportionate targeting and unfair treatment by police and other front-line law enforcement officials; by racially skewed charging and plea bargaining decisions of prosecutors; by discriminatory sentencing practices; and by the failure of judges, elected officials and other criminal justice policy makers to redress the inequities that become more glaring every day."

In his book No Equal Justice, Georgetown Law Professor David Cole notes "A Lexis review of all federal court decisions from January 1, 1990, to August 2, 1995, in which drug-courier profiles were used and the race of the suspect was discernible revealed that of sixty-three such cases, all but three suspects were minorities: thirty-four were black, twenty-five were Hispanic, one was Asian, and three were white."

Mandatory Minimums

Most mandatory minimum laws were enacted in 1986. Many of these penalties are mandatory and judges may not impose a penalty less than the number of years chosen by Congress. The most common mandatory sentences are for five and 10 years, and are based on the weight of the drug or the presence of a firearm.

In 1986, before mandatory minimums for crack offenses became effective, the average federal drug offense sentence for blacks was 11% higher than for whites. Four years later following the implementation of harsher drug sentencing laws, the average federal drug offense sentence was 49% higher for blacks.

Priorities at D.C. Jail: Percentage of inmate population charged and average length of sentence (D.C. Department of Corrections):

If one compares 1996 to 1984, the crime index is 13 points higher. This dramatic increase occurred during an era of mandatory minimum sentencing.
Since the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug users, the Federal Bureau of Prisons budget has jumped from $220 million in 1986 to $4.3 billion in 2001.

Asset Forfeiture

Civil Asset Forfeiture is the practice of law enforcement seizing and keeping money, property, and other assets that they suspect may have come from illegal profits - such as drug sales. Civil asset forfeiture often takes place without proof of the origins of the asset and without a conviction of anyone for wrongdoing. Law enforcement often retains the seized assets, or the proceeds from the sale of the assets, and uses the assets to fund further law enforcement efforts. (Drug Policy Alliance)

Family Isolation

1.5 million minor children in the United States have a parent in prison. 84% of federal and 64% of state women prisoners are mothers. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000)

Over 60% of parents in prison are held over 100 miles from their residence. A majority of fathers and mothers in prison reported never having a personal visit with their children since incarceration. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000)

Prison Conditions

By year-end 2001 the Federal prison system was operating at 31% over capacity, the same as the number reported in 2000.

"Department of corrections data show that about a fourth of those initially imprisoned for nonviolent crimes are sentenced for a second time for committing a violent offense. Whatever else it reflects, this pattern highlights the possibility that prison serves to transmit violent habits and values rather than to reduce them."

BARRIERS TO SUCCESSFUL REENTRY

Welfare

Persons convicted by state of federal felony offense for possessing or selling drugs are imposed with a lifetime ban on receiving welfare benefits. Low-income women, especially women of color, and their children are most impacted with the lifetime ban on cash assistance and food stamps imposed by Section 115 of the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. Ban on TANF assistance exacerbates severe poverty for about 92,000 women, of whom 70% are mothers. (The Sentencing Project)

Public Housing

Tenants who apply for public housing can be denied admission if they have been convicted of a felony drug offense or if they are in a drug treatment program and are currently known to be using illegal drugs. (Drug Policy Alliance)

The federal "One-Strike" eviction policy allows public housing agencies or Section 8 landlords to evict a tenant or any guest or "other person under the tenant’s control" who is involved in "drug-related criminal activity" on or off public housing premises. These evictions can occur whether or not other tenants have knowledge or gave consent to the activity. (Drug Policy Alliance)

Disenfranchisement

1.46 million black men out of a total voting population of 10.4 million (13% of the black male population) have lost their right to vote due to felony convictions.

"Election voting statistics offer an approximation of the political importance of black disenfranchisement: 1.4 million black men are disenfranchised compared to 4.6 million black men who voted in 1996."

Prisoners are counted by the national census as residents of the towns in which they are imprisoned, leaving their hometowns – often times urban communities of color - with diminished political power and government funding. Since voting representation and the distribution of government resources are determined by population, drug law convicts of color bring a transfer of public funds and electoral influence from their home communities, which are generally urban and often poor, to the mostly rural towns in which they are imprisoned. (Drug Policy Alliance)

Higher Education

The Drug-Free Student Aid Provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998 bars federal financial aid for students convicted of any drug offense. As a result, 48,629 students were formally denied aid for some or all of the 2001-2002 school year. (Coalition for HEA Reform)

HARM REDUCTION

Treatment

More than 10 million people who need treatment each year are not receiving it.
In 2002, federal funding for drug treatment totaled 19.1% of the drug war budget. The FY2003 request for treatment funding was 19.9% of the requested drug war budget. Law enforcement and interdiction ate up the remaining two-thirds of federal drug war spending in FY2002 and FY2003.

Treatment availability for drug and alcohol addicted prison inmates has declined over the last decade: Among those prisoners who had been using drugs in the month before their offense, 15% of both State and Federal inmates said they had received drug abuse treatment during their current prison term, down from a third of such offenders in 1991.

An Arizona law allowing first and second time drug offenders to accept treatment rather than jail time, saved the state $2.5 million in the first year that it was implemented and 78% of the participants in the treatment program later tested drug free. (ACLU Drug Policy Litigation Report, 2002)

"The National Treatment Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES) found that with treatment: drug selling decreased by 78%, shoplifting declined by almost 82%, and assaults (defined as 'beating someone up') declined by 78%. Furthermore, there was a 64% decrease in arrests for any crime, and the percentage of people who largely supported themselves through illegal activity dropped by nearly half - decreasing more than 48 percent. "

"People suffering from alcohol and/or drug problems and those in recovery are often ostracized, discriminated against, and deprived of basic human rights. Ironically, stigmatized individuals often endorse the attitudes and practices that stigmatize them. They may internalize this thinking and behavior, which consequently becomes part of their identity and sense of self-worth."

"One of the main reasons for the higher outlay in public spending is the frequently limited coverage of substance abuse treatment by private insurers. Although 70 percent of drug users are employed and most have private health insurance, 20 percent of public treatment funds were spent on people with private health insurance in 1993, due to limitations on their policy (ONDCP, 1996b)."

Needle Exchange

Needle Exchange Programs safely discard previously used, potentially infectious syringes in order to reduce the spread of HIV and other blood transmitted diseases. Programs also seek to improve access to medical services and treatment.

The possession, distribution, and sale of syringes remain a criminal offense in much of the country, and the federal government prohibits the use of its funds for needle exchange.

"Data (shows) associations between (anti-over-the-counter) laws (for the sale of syringes) and HIV prevalence and incidence."

More than 165,000 African Americans were living with injection-related AIDS or had already died from it by the end of 2001. (Harm Reduction Coalition)

Among those who inject drugs, African Americans are five times as likely as whites to get AIDS. African American (and Latina) women account for over 75% of all women with injection-related AIDS in 2001. (Harm Reduction Coalition)

Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St. | Boston, MA 02108 | 617-742-2100