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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:45 am
Time: 11:45 am
Results for minority over-representation
1 results foundAuthor: Beckett, Katherine Title: Race and the Enforcement of Drug Delivery Laws in Seattle Summary: Between 1980 and 2002, the number of people incarcerated in the United States grew from approximately 500,000 to over 2 million. This trend has sharply and disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minorities: over 60% of today’s inmates are black and/or Latino (Sentencing Project, n.d). Many analysts have suggested that the policies and practices associated with the war on drugs are an important cause of the expansion of the prison and jail populations, as well as the increasingly disproportionate representation of minorities in them (Blumstein 1993; Duster 1997; Tonry 1995). Recent data confirms this conjecture: approximately 30% of U.S. inmates are drug offenders, and over 90% of those admitted to prison for drug offenses are black or Latino (Sentencing Project n.d.). Theoretically, the dramatic impact of the war on drugs on the black and Latino communities may be a consequence of higher rates of drug law violations within those groups, selective enforcement of drug laws, and/or post-arrest practices and policies. Some studies have found that black drug defendants are treated more harshly than white drug defendants once in the justice system (Blumstein 1993; Goode 2002; Spohn 2000; Austin & Allen 2000). In Seattle, however, there is evidence that the differential impact of the war on drugs on black and Latino communities is not a consequence of differential treatment after arrest. It appears, therefore, that comparatively high rates of incarceration among blacks resident to the Seattle area stem from higher rates of offense behavior and/or the selective enforcement of drug laws (Minority & Justice Commission Report 1999). This report analyzes a wide range of data sources pertaining to drug delivery in order to identify the extent to which selective/discriminatory law enforcement contributes to high rates of incarceration for drug delivery among blacks. Doing so requires estimating the racial composition of Seattle’s drug-delivering population. This estimate can then be compared with arrest statistics to determine whether or not blacks are over-represented among those arrested for narcotics delivery (or possession with intent to deliver narcotics) given the estimated composition of those who deliver drugs in Seattle. At the same time, this report assesses whether whites are under-represented among drug delivery arrestees in Seattle given the frequency with which they engage in behaviors that meet the legal definition of that crime. Details: Seattle, WA: Department of Sociology and Law, Societies & Justice Program, 2003. 78p. University of Washington,, 2003. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 5, 2013 at: http://www.kcba.org/druglaw/pdf/beckettstudy.pdf Year: 2003 Country: United States URL: http://www.kcba.org/druglaw/pdf/beckettstudy.pdf Shelf Number: 128288 Keywords: Drug EnforcementDrug Offenders (Seattle, Washington)Minority GroupsMinority Over-representationRacial DisparitiesWar on Drugs |