NCJ Number
242616
Date Published
December 2007
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This report examines the relationship between racial disparities and social policies at the local level.
Abstract
This report describes the relationship between drug admission rates and the structural and demographic characteristics of counties using data from budgets and spending for law enforcement, unemployment rates, poverty rates, and the percentage of the population that is African-American. Findings show an unmatched propensity for incarceration of its citizens for drug offenses suffers from significant racial disparity against African-Americans. This study analyzes incarceration rates in relation to various characteristics on a county level; results show that counties with high unemployment, poverty, higher proportions of African-Americans, and substantial law enforcement budgets imprison people for drug offenses at higher rates. Though Whites and African-Americans use and sell drugs at similar rates, African-Americans are 10 times more likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses. This report includes a discussion of possible causes of racial disparity in drug incarceration, and concludes with a call for evidence-based drug enforcement practices. Tables, figures, appendixes, and endnotes