Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jun 2001
Source: CNN (US Web)
Copyright: 2001 Cable News Network, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.cnn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/65

DRUG WAR WEIGHS ON BLACK COMMUNITIES, CENSUS SHOWS

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- When an epidemic of crack and gang violence 
erupted in cities like New Haven in the 1990s, police and lawmakers struck 
back hard.

The war on drugs yielded dozens of new laws, including mandatory sentences 
for drug dealers and heavier penalties for dealing crack rather than 
powdered cocaine.

But those laws also had unintended consequences in minority communities.

Black men make up less than 3 percent of Connecticut's population but 
account for 47 percent of inmates in prisons, jails and halfway houses, 
2000 census figures show.

Overall in Connecticut, one in 11 black men between the ages of 18 and 64 
is behind bars, the census found. In 1990, that figure was about one in 25.

Similar disparities can be seen across the country. In Louisiana, one of 
the few states to receive updated race statistics from the census, black 
inmates outnumber whites 3-to-1; conversely, blacks account for only a 
third of the state's population.

Nationwide, the Justice Department reported that 12 percent of all black 
men between the ages of 20 and 34 were locked up last year.

"I don't think anyone intended it to be this way, but if you were trying to 
design a system to incarcerate as many African-American and Latino men as 
possible, I don't think you could have designed a better system," said 
state Rep. Michael Lawlor, co-chairman of the Connecticut Legislature's 
Judiciary Committee.

The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates state governments 
spend $20 billion a year fighting drugs.

Some states now are trying to ease the drug laws of the 1990s, putting more 
money toward prevention and treatment instead of incarceration.

"You can't put every drug user in jail, because if you do and they don't 
get any help, they're going to be right back in again," said Chief State 
Attorney Jack Bailey, Connecticut's top prosecutor for 10 years.

This year, the Legislature voted to give judges more leeway in sentencing 
drug dealers who operated near schools, day care centers and public housing 
projects.

The old law set a three-year mandatory minimum sentence for dealing within 
1,500 feet of those places. In densely populated New Haven, that meant 
virtually everywhere except the Yale University golf course and the 
Tweed-New Haven airport runway.

While drugs also are prevalent in Connecticut's mostly white suburbs, the 
preference there for powdered cocaine over crack and sprawling development 
meant that few suburban dealers faced the same penalties.

In California this year, a ballot proposition takes effect that will mean 
treatment instead of prison for many first- and second-time drug offenders. 
Offenders' records are cleared if they complete treatment.

A similar 4-year-old program in Arizona has saved money because treatment 
is cheaper than prison, a state analysis found.

Similar programs are being considered in Ohio, Florida and Michigan.

Some politicians, however, believe a hard line on drugs is appropriate, or 
do not wish to be seen as soft on crime.

"I think it sends out a very negative message to the public at large," said 
Connecticut state Rep. Ronald San Angelo, a Republican who opposed changing 
mandatory minimum sentences.

People who lived through the gang and drug wars also offer caution. While 
they are angry that a generation of young black men are in prison, they do 
not want to return to the past.

Lorraine Stanley, a resident of a New Haven housing project for 13 years, 
recalled how a drug gang called the Jungle Brothers terrorized her 
neighborhood. Police eventually busted up the gang, and now a police 
sub-station in the neighborhood keeps crime down.

"Things have gotten a whole lot better," Stanley said.

Despite changes in the laws, other experts said racial bias in the courts 
and poverty in the cities will continue to lead to more prison time for 
minorities.

Frank Mandanici, a public defender in New Haven, said that bias among 
juries affects verdicts and sentences for black defendants.

"Racism permeates our society. It's a cancer no one is willing to address," 
he said. "There is no test on how to detect it and what to do with it."

Yale political science Professor Donald Green said the density and poverty 
of cities combined with law enforcement tactics have put more blacks in prison.

"Drug use is similar in white and nonwhite populations, but the level of 
enforcement is very different among the two groups," he said. "Violent 
crime is more associated with gang activity, associated with drug abuse in 
minorities, and enforcement is aimed overwhelmingly in that direction."

Also, Green said, poor people of all races turn to crime when there are no 
other opportunities.
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