"Report says U.S. jails more blacks than whites for drugs"
By Matthew Bigg
December 4, 2007
On the Web at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0453686820071205?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
ATLANTA (Reuters) -
By Matthew Bigg
December 4, 2007
On the Web at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0453686820071205?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
ATLANTA (Reuters) -
Black Americans are 10 times more likely to be imprisoned for illegal drug offenses than whites, even though both groups use and sell drugs at the same rate, according to a study released on Tuesday.
Almost all large counties in the United States showed sharp disparities along racial lines in the sentencing of drug offenders, the study by the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute showed.
There were 1.5 million drug arrests out of 19.5 million drug users in 2002, it said. About 175,000 people were incarcerated for a drug offense, of which half were black, even though blacks account for 13 percent of the U.S. population, it said.
The study looked at data from 198 U.S. counties with the biggest population. Its findings were similar to others on the subject, but it is the first to look at relative incarceration rates at a local level.
"What you keep seeing is this towering drug admission rate for African Americans and a very small rate for whites...
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Almost all large counties in the United States showed sharp disparities along racial lines in the sentencing of drug offenders, the study by the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute showed.
There were 1.5 million drug arrests out of 19.5 million drug users in 2002, it said. About 175,000 people were incarcerated for a drug offense, of which half were black, even though blacks account for 13 percent of the U.S. population, it said.
The study looked at data from 198 U.S. counties with the biggest population. Its findings were similar to others on the subject, but it is the first to look at relative incarceration rates at a local level.
"What you keep seeing is this towering drug admission rate for African Americans and a very small rate for whites...
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