Racial Differences in Drug Usage and Incarceration
Through my research on racial disparity in drug related crimes, I have learned so much about how this affects both black and white people with a history of drug abuse. Many different websites and sources taught me different things. The problems I have learned about in my research span widely from racism, to unfair sentences, to overcrowded prisons and outdated criminal justice policies. This was very enlightening to me because I did not realize that these issues are as prevalent as they are in today’s society. I now believe that we must make changes in our community in order to have a more safe and fair nation.
The first site I visited for my research on this topic was NCBI. I visited and viewed two different articles, both regarding and focusing on a different case study. The first was comparing the status of both black and white drug-related offenders. The creators of this study interviewed 243 participants, 146 of which being black, and 97 being white. They were interviewed and asked questions regarding their education, race, gender, sexual orientation, education, marital status, children, employment, income, history of homelessness, and many other factors. This was in combination with their info on their drug history and their sentencing if there was any. All of the information gathered was compiled into a large statistics report and I learned so much from reading it. The second study was very similar, but compared these rates with college students rather than a variety of adults in different age groups. This study also yielded similar results. I learned that while rates of drug usage and sales between blacks and whites are very similar, blacks had significantly more cases that resulted in conviction. In these cases, they also had much longer sentences than whites with similar cases.
This source also states that because of racial bias in the criminal justice system, which includes police policies, arrest rates, conviction, sentence lengths, judicial policies and laws, and many other factors not mentioned, blacks are 5 to 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. This was so surprising for me to learn, especially because the rates of use between blacks and whites are very similiar in many ways. This is most often not because of blatant racism, but because most police officers make their drug arrests in black, low-income neighborhoods. This leads to higher arrest rates in the black community, and those who are affected also face an unfair disadvantage once released from prison. They are labeled felons and drug offenders, and according to the Huffington Post , “ our policy and lawmaking perpetuate a chronic underclass of citizens” meaning that drug offenders nearly always face special challenges that prevent them from recovery. These challenges include but are not limited to education, housing, and employment.
The Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act of 2015 was issued to help states address increased drug use (specifically including opioid and heroin use) in specific communities by using prevention and rehabilitation efforts. This affects mostly those who are middle class and white. The treatment of this drug crisis strongly juxtaposes how the crack epidemic among blacks in the 90’s was treated. Those using the drug were met with war tactics instead of attempts to heal and reform. The opioid crisis has been treated by local officials as a “health epidemic” rather than widespread addiction, which I have found very interesting. This is only one example of how whites and blacks with drug-related issues are treated very differently. This new policy was viewed as a step in the right direction for some, but I believe that it will take much more than this to fix these widespread issues. These problems in our country will not just go away if we don’t do anything about them, so changes must be made.
While these facts and statistics are upsetting to many, there are people who are attempting to make a change and reform these regulations that are unjust. After discovering that just 11 percent of inmates in California who struggled with addictions have received any treatment, there was an attempt to create a solution to this problem. Many states have attempted to reverse laws that possibly contribute to higher rates of incarceration among African Americans. They do so by reducing the penalties given for drug possession, and attempting to focus funding on more serious crimes. These offenses that pertain to drug are often felonies, but if changed to misdemeanors, this allows for a maximum jail time of one year. This idea of reform was called Proposition 47. This would lead to less spending on minor offenses, and help to alleviate the issue of overcrowded prisons. This causes so many problems because a large portion of those who are incarcerated are because of minor drug possession charges. If this population of those in jail can be relieved, then the experience of prison for those will be much more comfortable and be the way it was intended to be. If these offenses are reclassified to misdemeanors, it will benefit those previously affected in many ways.
The first site I visited for my research on this topic was NCBI. I visited and viewed two different articles, both regarding and focusing on a different case study. The first was comparing the status of both black and white drug-related offenders. The creators of this study interviewed 243 participants, 146 of which being black, and 97 being white. They were interviewed and asked questions regarding their education, race, gender, sexual orientation, education, marital status, children, employment, income, history of homelessness, and many other factors. This was in combination with their info on their drug history and their sentencing if there was any. All of the information gathered was compiled into a large statistics report and I learned so much from reading it. The second study was very similar, but compared these rates with college students rather than a variety of adults in different age groups. This study also yielded similar results. I learned that while rates of drug usage and sales between blacks and whites are very similar, blacks had significantly more cases that resulted in conviction. In these cases, they also had much longer sentences than whites with similar cases.
This source also states that because of racial bias in the criminal justice system, which includes police policies, arrest rates, conviction, sentence lengths, judicial policies and laws, and many other factors not mentioned, blacks are 5 to 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites. This was so surprising for me to learn, especially because the rates of use between blacks and whites are very similiar in many ways. This is most often not because of blatant racism, but because most police officers make their drug arrests in black, low-income neighborhoods. This leads to higher arrest rates in the black community, and those who are affected also face an unfair disadvantage once released from prison. They are labeled felons and drug offenders, and according to the Huffington Post , “ our policy and lawmaking perpetuate a chronic underclass of citizens” meaning that drug offenders nearly always face special challenges that prevent them from recovery. These challenges include but are not limited to education, housing, and employment.
The Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act of 2015 was issued to help states address increased drug use (specifically including opioid and heroin use) in specific communities by using prevention and rehabilitation efforts. This affects mostly those who are middle class and white. The treatment of this drug crisis strongly juxtaposes how the crack epidemic among blacks in the 90’s was treated. Those using the drug were met with war tactics instead of attempts to heal and reform. The opioid crisis has been treated by local officials as a “health epidemic” rather than widespread addiction, which I have found very interesting. This is only one example of how whites and blacks with drug-related issues are treated very differently. This new policy was viewed as a step in the right direction for some, but I believe that it will take much more than this to fix these widespread issues. These problems in our country will not just go away if we don’t do anything about them, so changes must be made.
While these facts and statistics are upsetting to many, there are people who are attempting to make a change and reform these regulations that are unjust. After discovering that just 11 percent of inmates in California who struggled with addictions have received any treatment, there was an attempt to create a solution to this problem. Many states have attempted to reverse laws that possibly contribute to higher rates of incarceration among African Americans. They do so by reducing the penalties given for drug possession, and attempting to focus funding on more serious crimes. These offenses that pertain to drug are often felonies, but if changed to misdemeanors, this allows for a maximum jail time of one year. This idea of reform was called Proposition 47. This would lead to less spending on minor offenses, and help to alleviate the issue of overcrowded prisons. This causes so many problems because a large portion of those who are incarcerated are because of minor drug possession charges. If this population of those in jail can be relieved, then the experience of prison for those will be much more comfortable and be the way it was intended to be. If these offenses are reclassified to misdemeanors, it will benefit those previously affected in many ways.
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| This simple graph shows how prevalent this issue is. |
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| This interesting image shows that blacks are more likely to be convicted more all crimes, not just drug-related ones. |
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This graph from the Hamilton Project shows the comparison between drug usage and arrest rates.
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