US Drug Arrests, 1980-2007

Between 1980 and 2007, there were more than 25.4 million adult drug arrests in the United States.[10] The number of annual drug arrests increased almost every year, with the number of black arrests showing considerably more variation annually than white arrests, as shown in Table 1. During this period, the increase in the annual number of black arrests was greater than in the annual number of white arrests: black drug arrests were 4.8 times greater in 2007 than in 1980; white arrests were 3.2 times greater.

Overall, about one in three drug arrestees was black, although throughout this period blacks only constitutedabout 13 percent of the US population. The percentage of black arrestees among all drug arrestees increased from 27 percent in 1980 to a high ranging from 40 to 42 percent between 1989 and 1993, and then declined more or less steadily to the current percentage of 35 percent (Table 1).

Table 1: US Adult Drug Arrests by Race, 1980-2007
Year	Total Arrests	White	Black	Other Races**	Percent White*	Percent Black*	Percent Other*
1980	376,155	272,341	100,671	3,143	72%	27%	1%
1981	448,255	322,250	122,076	3,929	72%	27%	1%
1982	487,160	340,582	142,254	4,324	70%	29%	1%
1983	543,259	366,911	171,144	5,204	68%	32%	1%
1984	557,229	372,470	179,955	4,804	67%	32%	1%
1985	640,626	427,579	206,830	6,217	67%	32%	1%
1986	656,434	421,803	229,179	5,452	64%	35%	1%
1987	733,908	463,213	264,958	5,737	63%	36%	1%
1988	781,745	465,646	309,512	6,587	60%	40%	1%
1989	981,381	567,163	408,853	5,365	58%	42%	1%
1990	835,321	490,412	338,717	6,192	59%	41%	1%
1991	735,294	422,166	306,932	6,196	57%	42%	1%
1992	892,371	519,966	364,587	7,818	58%	41%	1%
1993	901,860	530,237	363,582	8,041	59%	40%	1%
1994	988,542	599,663	379,741	9,138	61%	38%	1%
1995	1,073,480	642,540	420,731	10,209	60%	39%	1%
1996	996,809	599,512	386,906	10,391	60%	39%	1%
1997	1,078,745	645,277	421,348	12,120	60%	39%	1%
1998	1,098,784	651,137	436,048	11,599	59%	40%	1%
1999	1,068,525	645,288	411,400	11,837	60%	39%	1%
2000	1,109,300	673,752	422,669	12,879	61%	38%	1%
2001	1,107,140	674,323	419,781	13,036	61%	38%	1%
2002	1,046,149	665,276	367,424	13,449	64%	35%	1%
2003	1,239,337	811,574	410,533	17,230	65%	33%	1%
2004	1,159,979	752,992	392,240	14,747	65%	34%	1%
2005	1,235,355	795,726	423,440	16,189	64%	34%	1%
2006	1,270,324	802,583	451,506	16,235	63%	36%	1%
2007	1,382,783	880,742	485,054	16,987	64%	35%	1%

*Due to rounding, totals may not equal 100 percent.

**The FBI classifies "other races" as American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asians and Pacific Islanders.

As shown in Table 2 and reflected graphically in Figure 1, blacks have been arrested at consistently higher rates than whites, even as rates for both have gone up sharply. The national rate of drug arrests per 100,000 black adults has ranged from a low of 554 in 1980 to a high of 2,009 in 1989; the rate in 2007 was 1,721.[11] The rate of drug arrests per 100,000 white adults has ranged from a low of 190 in 1980 to a high of 476 in 2007. In 1981, the year with the lowest disparity between the two races, blacks were arrested at rates almost three (2.8) times the rate of whites. In the years with the worst disparities, between 1988 and 1993, blacks were arrested at rates more than five (between 5.1 and 5.5) times the rate of whites. From 2002 through 2007, the ratio of black to white drug arrest rates has ranged between 3.5 and 3.9. The more or less steady decline in the disparity since the early 1990s reflects several significant drops in annual black arrest rates as well as a white arrest rate that has been increasing at a slightly faster pace than the black arrest rate.

Table 2: US Rates of Adult Drug Arrests, 1980-2007

Rates calculated per 100,000 residents of each race

Year	Black Rate	White Rate	Ratio of Black to White
1980	554	190	2.9
1981	601	212	2.8
1982	691	220	3.1
1983	819	235	3.5
1984	840	236	3.6
1985	1,048	283	3.7
1986	1,182	277	4.3
1987	1,346	299	4.5
1988	1,547	301	5.1
1989	2,009	363	5.5
1990	1,666	311	5.4
1991	1,464	264	5.5
1992	1,707	325	5.3
1993	1,675	329	5.1
1994	1,723	370	4.7
1995	1,889	393	4.8
1996	1,700	364	4.7
1997	1,822	389	4.7
1998	1,851	389	4.8
1999	1,719	382	4.5
2000	1,722	389	4.4
2001	1,682	386	4.4
2002	1,448	371	3.9
2003	1,570	455	3.5
2004	1,500	418	3.6
2005	1,594	438	3.6
2006	1,658	437	3.8
2007	1,721	476	3.6

[10] The total number of arrests, 25,426,250 reported by the UCR Program, is less than the actual number of adult arrests. As noted above in footnote 5, the UCR Program's arrest data reflect only arrests reported to it by participating law enforcement agencies. Some agencies do not participate and some do not provide complete arrest data.

[11] Rates of arrest calculated using US Census Bureau estimated population data for each year.

Table of Contents

Decades of Disparity

US Drug Arrests, 1980-2007

Table 1: US Adult Drug Arrests by Race, 1980-2007

Table 2: US Rates of Adult Drug Arrests, 1980-2007