While 39 percent of black males languished in jail, on probation or parole in 1995, only five percent of white men the same age and 11 percent of Latino men were under such state supervision, said a study conducted by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a nonprofit group based in San Francisco, as reported by the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.
While politicians race to see who can cut "big government" the most, spending for prisons and police continues to skyrocket; the report notes that for the first time, California spent more on prisons than on higher education, for example.
Drug charges biased
The study shows that blacks were arrested for illegal drugs at five times the rate for whites
in 1989 -- even though whites used illegal drugs at about the same rate -- and are charged
under the "three strikes, you're out" law at 17 times the rate for whites in Los Angeles and
13 times in San Francisco. And, Black women are being incarcerated at an accelerated
pace on drug charges: Fifty five black women were in prison on drug-related charges in
1984, but 1,006 were by 1994.
The report also says that two thirds of black and Latino males in California have been arrested while between the ages of 18 and 30 and that first-time white offenders are more likely to receive lenient treatment.
In addition, Latinos get prison terms for drug offenses at twice the rate for whites, while blacks are 33 percent more likely to land in the pen on such charges. The study's findings are similar to data collected in other reports in recent years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Prior news reports have revealed that federal drug sentencing strictures, which send defendants to prison for five years or more, potentially are heavily biased against blacks, who are more likely to use crack cocaine rather than powder cocaine. The penalties kick in with 1/100th the amount of crack cocaine when compared to the powder form of the drug used recreationally more often by whites.
Imagine 40% rate for whites
Vincent Schiraldi, a co-author of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice report, says
the findings betray a "subtler form of institutional racism." He told the L.A. Times, " . . . If
four in 10 young white men were under the control of the criminal justice system, we
would not be passing 'three strikes' [laws] or building more prisons. We would be . . .
funding education, jobs and drug treatment."
"This is a clarion call," said U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D - Los Angeles). "It warns us that we are risking an entire generation of African American young men." She pointed out that sending huge numbers of blacks to prison only means they'll return "with no skills, no jobs, no decent quality of life. And when that happens, you have more crime, you have more unrest."
Constance Rice of the NAACP said: "If you want to know why the African American community does not trust the judicial system, take a look at this report."
Copyright 1996 Prensa Pacifica, Ocean Park, California.
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