"Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black"

[cynatnite]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. "war on drugs" disproportionately targets urban minority neighborhoods with African Americans being arrested and imprisoned on drug charges at much higher rates, according to a pair of reports released on Monday by rights groups.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said a review of new statistics across 34 states found persistent racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison.

The 67-page report concludes that 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 report said.

"Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black," said Jamie Fellner, a Human Rights Watch official and author of the report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080506/us_nm/usa_drugs_sentencing_dc

[Catherine Vincent]

1. One word...

Why?

[joeybee12]

2. You know, the states listed as the biggest disparity surprised me..

...surprised to see Colorado, especially. The entire report would be an interesting read.

[Duer 157099]

3. Wha....??? That's outrageous!

Truly it is, but sadly, it's so predictable. And I'd venture to guess that the same trend would occur across plenty of "crimes"

Most criminals are walking free in Washington, working for the government; but the most criminals sent to prison for similar (and lesser) crimes are low income people (of all races).

[Duke Newcombe]

4. I wonder if it is broken down...

For example, what are we referring to as "drug offenders"? The addict, or the person moving multi-million dollar loads of drugs?

I'll definitely read this more in depth later--this is definitely an economic, labor, penological, and national security issue all rolled into one.

Duke

[KSinTX]

5. It's the old crack vs powder cocaine disparity in another light

At first I was surprised that Texas wasn't at the top of the list then realized, we just throw everyone in jail first then sort out innocence later. :)

[endarkenment]

6. unfortunately their fix for that problem would be to toss

more people in jail.

[OwnedByFerrets]

7. Lots of reasons that

this is happening. And it should be criminal in itself.

[mdmc]

8. YES

a shame