US: ‘Drug War’ Unjust to African Americans

[subsuelo]

Two National Reports Detail Racial Disparity in Arrests and Imprisonment

(Washington, DC, May 5, 2008) – Ostensibly color-blind, the US “war on drugs” disproportionately targets urban minority neighborhoods, Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project said in two reports released today. Although whites commit more drug offenses, African Americans are arrested and imprisoned on drug charges at much higher rates, the reports find.

In the 67-page report, “Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States,” Human Rights Watch documents with detailed new statistics persistent racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison in 34 states. All of these states send black drug offenders to prison at much higher rates than whites.

“Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel in the US program at Human Rights Watch and author of “Targeting Blacks.” “The solution is not to imprison more whites but to radically rethink how to deal with drug abuse and low-level drug offenders.”

Key findings in the Human Rights Watch report include:


Across the 34 states, a black man is 11.8 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison on drug charges, and a black woman is 4.8 times more likely than a white woman.

In 16 states, African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at rates between 10 and 42 times greater than the rate for whites. The 10 states with the greatest racial disparities in prison admissions for drug offenders are: Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Colorado, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

Human Rights Watch - read more

[virtualobserver]

1. undeniably true

[Mojambo]

2. Understatement of the year. n/t

[zonmoy]

3. better statement

drug war is unjust to everyone.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[maxidivine]

5. Quick question-

I am not denying that black and white offenders have historically been treated differently in many cases, but I have to ask a question about one of these statements.

"Across the 34 states, a black man is 11.8 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison on drug charges, and a black woman is 4.8 times more likely than a white woman.

In 16 states, African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at rates between 10 and 42 times greater than the rate for whites. The 10 states with the greatest racial disparities in prison admissions for drug offenders are: Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Colorado, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan."

11.8 times more likely to be sent to prison on drug charges in what way? Does that mean that if black and a white man are each caught committing the same drug offense, not together, but in separate incidents that are as identical as possible, and both have near identical previous records, that the black man is 12 times more likely to be imprisoned for it?

It just looks like it could potentially be a very misleading statistic, especially since Mr. Fellner of Human Rights Watch claims that the majority of drug offenders are white, however that statistic is not shown. Why not?

Another issue I have with this is that it doesn't take drug traffickers demographics into account. If gangs are the prime movers of drugs, and if those gangs are primarily composed of black men, then wouldn't it stand to reason that the demographic of black men would have a higher percentage of drug-related imprisonments?

[flashl]

6. Everyone EXCEPT U.S. citizens is clear about the fact: USA is the world's #1 Drug/Gun trafficker

If this country stop drug trafficking it would be broke. Catherine Austin Fitts: Guide to Narco-Dollars

CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US is a recent story and for more information google bank+drug+money+laundering or Wachovia+drug+money

Drug War Facts

Re: majority of drug offenders are white:
Source: Harrison, Paige M., & Beck, Allen J., PhD, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, May 2006) (NCJ213133), p. 10.

[Asgaya Dihi]

7. Complex answer

but this might be a start to understanding what happens. The law itself isn't openly racist so much as it does tend to target circumstances which apply much more strongly to the poor than to the public at large, especially the poor in crowded areas. In this nation that's largely the black community. I posted this to someone in another thread recently, look it over then if you've got any questions about how it happens we'll take it from there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5763043&mesg_id=5763316

There's nothing at all misleading about the stats. That's the real shape of our system today. This stuff isn't all that contributes to it but it touches on some high points.

The gangs are another issue, they come from all over the place and are NOT primarily black men in terms of where the drugs come from. Cocaine for instance used to come mostly from Columbia through the Caribbean, at that point it was mostly hippies and such who carried it in. Think Miami Vice. The first Bush shut that down so they started to come through Mexico instead, instead of hippies through the Caribbean we started to feed real gangs plus the corruption of the military there which runs drugs as well and eventually the Mexicans who had been just supply line decided they could run their own operation.

Colombians thought about that a bit and gave it to them in the end rather than fighting for it, figured they could make more money with less risk on manufacturing and let the Mexicans run the drugs themselves. That's also a good part of why we have so much meth coming over the Mexican border now. They were already set up to run drugs so that was just another product to add to their line, our "combat meth act" and other steps were the biggest boost to their ability to make money they could have wished for.

The whole thing is a mess and in general every time we think we have a "victory" in a few years it's worse than it was before. That's been the story of the drug war in general.

[flashl]

8. In American, Race and absence of Justice is factor

Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics
Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Expose of the Dark Side of American Policing
New ACLU Report Details Pervasive Racial Discrimination in America (12/10/2007)
UN Report points to "stark racial disparities" in U.S. institutions, including its criminal justice system
Death penalty documentary drives pleas for more scrutiny

[Asgaya Dihi]

9. Good resources

Those offer a lot of detail which could be useful, some of which I've read. I was going to offer one which used to be online but it's not now, a book titled Maximizing Harm. It was updated in 2006 and the old version taken offline, new one isn't up to replace it.

The old version was a bit dated in terms of specifics but it was as good an eye opener to our methods of drug control as I've ever seen for those who aren't aware of the overall shape of the system. If you happen to run across a copy I'd be interested in if the new version compares well with the old one and when (or if) they plan to put it online.

Short story was that in one aspect after another rather than try to reduce harm our tactics make things as painful and harmful as possible in the hopes that will drive people to do what we want them to do. It never has, all it ever did was to increase the harm. Seeing it all laid out in logical form opened a few eyes in debates for me which I would have struggled at that point with on my own.

[flashl]

10. Maximizing Harm resonates but can't find a copy in my archives.

If I find a copy, I will pass on it.

On the issue of drugs, America is schizophrenic. In the sense of its law enforcement, OOH, and proven reliance on its economy OTOH. The entire history is long, complex in some ways, and very troubling when one segment of this society bears the brunt of the duplicity.