Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Ma.gnolia
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiConclusion
The racial disparities in the rates of drug arrests culminate in dramatic racial disproportions among incarcerated drug offenders. At least two-thirds of drug arrests result in a criminal conviction.[18] Many convicted drug offenders are sentenced to incarceration: an estimated 67 percent of convicted felony drug defendants are sentenced to jail or prison.[19] The likelihood of incarceration increases if the defendant has a prior conviction.[20] Since blacks are more likely to be arrested than whites on drug charges, they are more likely to acquire the convictions that ultimately lead to higher rates of incarceration. Although the data in this backgrounder indicate that blacks represent about one-third of drug arrests, they constitute 46 percent of persons convicted of drug felonies in state courts.[21] Among black defendants convicted of drug offenses, 71 percent received sentences to incarceration in contrast to 63 percent of convicted white drug offenders.[22] Human Rights Watch's analysis of prison admission data for 2003 revealed that relative to population, blacks are 10.1 times more likely than whites to be sent to prison for drug offenses.[23]
[18] Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), "Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2004," Statistical Tables, Table 19, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/html/fdluc/2004/tables/fdluc04st19.htm (accessed December 2, 2008) (67 percent of drug arrests result in conviction); BJS, "Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2004," Statistical Tables, Table 1.8, http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/html/scscf04/tables/scs04108tab.htm (accessed December 2, 2008) (71 felony convictions per 100 drug arrests).
[19] BJS, "Felony Defendents," Statistical Tables, Table 25, http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/html/fdluc/2004/tables/fdluc04st25.htm (accessed December 2, 2008). Even absent a sentence to incarceration, felony convictions carry a host of adverse collateral consequences, including reduced access to housing, public assistance, and loans for higher education, as well as adverse impacts on employment since criminal records are easily obtained during background checks. Human Rights Watch, United States -No Second Chance: People with Criminal Records Denied Access to Public Housing, November 17, 2004, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2004/11/17/no-second-chance; Legal Action Center, "After Prison: Roadblocks to Re-entry," 2004, http://lac.org/roadblocks-to-reentry/upload/lacreport/LAC_PrintReport.pdf (accessed December 2, 2008). Felony drug convictions for non-citizens frequently lead to deportation. Human Rights Watch, Forced Apart: Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by United States Deportation Policy, July 2007, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/07/16/forced-apart-0.
[20] For example, 42 percent of convicted drug offenders who had more than one prior felony conviction were sentenced to prison compared to 16 percent of those with no prior conviction. BJS, "Felony Defendants," Statistical Tables, Table 30, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/html/fdluc/2004/tables/fdluc04st30.htm (accessed December 2, 2008).
[21] BJS, "Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2004," Statistical Tables, Table 2.1, http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/html/scscf04/tables/scs04201tab.htm (accessed December 2, 2008).
[22] BJS, "Felony Sentences," Table 2.5, http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/html/scscf04/tables/scs04205tab.htm (accessed December 2, 2008).
[23] In 2003, in the 34 states under analysis, the rate of prison admission on drug charges for blacks was 256.2 per 100,000 black adult residents. For whites, the rate was 25.3 per 100,000 white adults. Between 1986 and 2003, the rate of prison admission for blacks on drug charges quintupled; the white rate did not quite triple. Human Rights Watch, Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States, May 2008, p. 16, http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/05/04/targeting-blacks-0.