Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jun 2000
Source: Record, The (CA)
Copyright: 2000 The Record
Contact:  P.O. Box 900, Stockton, CA 95201
Fax: (209) 547-8186
Website: http://www.recordnet.com/
Author: Associated Press

STUDY FINDS DRUG WAR TARGETS BLACKS

NEW YORK (AP) - The war on drugs in the United States has been waged 
disproportionately against blacks, with about twice as many blacks in 
prison on drug-related charges than whites, according to a study released 
Thursday.

Nationwide, blacks make up about 62 percent of prisoners incarcerated on 
drug charges, compared with 36 percent of whites, according to research 
done by Human Rights Watch. Census figures indicate that blacks make up 
about 13 percent of the U.S. population and whites - including white 
Hispanics - about 82 percent.

Black men are admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate about 13 
times that of white men, the study said. On average, 482 of every 100,000 
black men sentenced to prison are sent there on drug charges, compared with 
just 36 of every 100,000 white men.

The group said the numbers are especially striking because of federal 
studies that show white drug users outnumber black drug users 5-to-1.

"These racial disparities are a national scandal," said Ken Roth, executive 
director of the New York-based human rights group.

The study was based on 1996 figures provided by 37 states to the Justice 
Department. The study doesn't include data for states that did not report 
statistics that year.

The study did not differentiate between individuals imprisoned for drug 
dealing as opposed to drug use.

Experts at the Bureau of Criminal Justice Statistics, a division of the 
Justice Department, say one reason for the disparity could be that drug 
abuse among blacks tends to be more chronic and involve harder drugs such 
as crack cocaine and heroin.

Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug 
Control Policy, told The New York Times that the high rates for blacks 
imprisoned on drug charges stem from the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s.

The report found that Illinois has the worst rate of racial disparity among 
drug offender admissions in the country: Black men are sent to prison on 
drug charges at 57 times the rate of white men. And blacks comprise 90 
percent of all prison admissions in that state for drug charges - the 
highest percentage in the country.

"We as a nation can't afford to have such an astonishing percentage of our 
population in prison, especially when so much of it has to do with drugs," 
said Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Watch associate counsel and author of the 
report.

Fellner said that the solution to the inequity is "not to incarcerate more 
whites, but to reduce the use of prison for low-level drug offenders and to 
increase the availability of substance abuse treatment."
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