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Nov/Dec 2000 issue (#48)
One of the world's leading human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch, released a comprehensive report in June proving that the U.S. war on drugs has disproportionately--and overwhelmingly--resulted in the incarceration of African-American men.
"Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs," includes the first state-by-state analysis of the role of race and drugs in prison admissions. While previous news reports and editorials have pointed to the large and growing number of African-American men incarcerated and disenfranchised as a result of non-violent, drug-related offenses, "Punishment and Prejudice" released several new, important key findings:
Overall, black men are sent to state prisons on drug charges at 13 times the rate of white men;
Blacks comprise 62.7 percent of drug offenders admitted to state prisons across the country, although research has shown that there are five times more white drug users than black drug users. Currently, African-Americans represent only 13 percent of the national population, yet in seven states, blacks constitute between 80 and 90 percent of all people sent to prison on drug charges;
Nationwide, more blacks were sent to state prison on drug charges than for crimes of violence;
The ten states with the greatest racial disparities are: Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Maine, Iowa, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina and West Virginia. In these states, African-American men are imprisoned on drug charges at 27 to 57 times the rate of white men.
Although the rate of drug use for whites and blacks is similar, the rate of incarceration for drug offenses is much greater for blacks. Nationwide, there are 13 blacks in prison per one white for drug offenses. In Washington the rate is above the national average, at 14 blacks per one white. Graph below courtesy of Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org.
Top Ten Worst Offenders Rates of Admission for Black and White Male Drug Offenders
['rare means prison admisions per 100,000 adult male residents of each race]
| State | Black | White | B/W Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 1146 | 20 | 57 |
| Wisconsin | 689 | 13 | 53 |
| Minnesota | 424 | 11 | 39 |
| Maine | 314 | 9 | 36 |
| Iowa | 696 | 24 | 29 |
| Maryland | 628 | 22 | 28 |
| Ohio | 968 | 34 | 28 |
| New Jersey | 850 | 30 | 28 |
| West Virginia | 252 | 9 | 28 |
| North Carolina | 623 | 23 | 27 |
| National Average | 482 | 36 | 13 |
"The greatest single force behind the growth of the U.S. prison system since the mid-1980s has been the national 'war on drugs,'" states the report, which was authored by Jamie Fellner, Human Rights Watch (HRW) associate counsel. "Drug offenders in the United States face penal sanctions that are uniquely severe among western democracies. Drug sentences, even for those guilty of retailing or possessing small drug quantities, can compare to or exceed sentences for serious violent crimes such as armed robbery, rape or even murder."
In recent years, roughly 100,000 drug offenders have been admitted to prison annually, and nearly 2 million people are currently incarcerated in the U.S.
In Washington State, 23 percent of prisoners are African-American, although Blacks only represent three percent of the total state population. Of all of the state's inmates, 65 percent are doing time for non-violent offenses, and fully 50.6 percent of those incarcerated on drug charges are African-American. By comparison, the national average is 37.8 percent.
The US has the highest incarceration rate of any country. Reasons include disproportionate prison sentencing of African Americans and a large number of imprisonments for petty drug offenses that could be dealt with more cheaply and effectively by legalization or rehabilitation. |
Despite pro-drug-war rhetoric to the contrary, this rapid growth in nationwide prison admissions have not resulted in the incarceration of major drug "king pins," says HRW's report. According to the analyzed state-by-state data in "Punishment and Prejudice," the simple possession of drugs was the most serious conviction offense for 28 percent of drug offenders locked up in state prison. In nine states more than 50 percent of drug offenders were convicted of simple possession.
"Putting a person behind bars is so common in the United States and so frequently imposed for minor conduct that it seems the country has lost sight of just how serious a punishment imprisonment is," writes Fellner in "Punishment and Prejudice." "Short of execution, imprisonment is the most severe exercise of a government's legitimate coercive and penal powers."
While much of the drug war has focused on crack cocaine, marijuana-related arrests are also known to have increased since 1995 among young males and particularly younger African-Americans as a result of intensified drug crackdowns. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has reported that marijuana was involved in the offense of 12.9 percent of drug offenders in state prison, and fully 18.9 percent of inmates admitted for drug offenses in federal prison.
But "Punishment and Prejudice" points to even more alarming marijuana-related statistics. Through its exhaustive analysis of National Corrections Reporting Program data from 1996, HRW has documented that many states are locking up "marijuana offenders" at dizzying rates: Marijuana-related "crimes" accounted for 28.8 percent of drug-related incarcerations in New Hampshire, 20.6 percent in West Virginia, and a staggering 43 percent of drug-related admissions to state prison in North Dakota.
Calling for changes in government policies to reduce overincarceration and racially disproportionate arrests of drug users, HRW urges a repeal of mandatory minimum sentencing laws and an increase in the availability of alternative sentencing options and substance abuse treatment, and the use of jail and prison time as a method of last resort. The organization stops short of calling for decriminalization.
"The solution to this racial 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," says Fellner.
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