Racial Disparity in Drug Law Convictions
/On October 20, 2004 a groundbreaking coalition of black
professional organizations came together to form the National African
American Drug Policy Coalition (NAADPC). The NAADPC urgently seeks
alternatives to misguided drug policies that have led to mass
incarceration. The NAADPC was founded by Clyde Bailey Sr., the past
president of the National Bar Association. The NAADPC will target
appropriate treatment for drug addictions, including pretrial
diversion, and "therapeutic sentencing", and promote more education and
community prevention. "What we hope to do is shift public resources
into education, prevention, treatment and research programs that have
proven more effective in reducing drug abuse rather than through the
use of expensive criminal sanctions. We are trying to focus on the
health issues of these people rather than criminalizing the behavior,"
said Clyde E. Bailey. Since 1994, the disparity between white and non white prisoners as a
percentage of the total prison population has widened dramatically.
State prison incarceration rates for African Americans for drug law
violations are almost 20 times those of whites. Although whites account
for 69% of drug offense arrestee=s and blacks 29%, blacks are
disproportionately convicted and comprise 48% of the U.S. prison
population, while they are only 12.5% of the general population. In
1998, 3% of all black men were in prison on any given day. And one out
of three Black men aged 20 -29 were under some form of criminal justice
control, which are more black men than were in college. [more]
- NAADPC membership includes a broad base of black
professional organizations, including the National Bar Association; the
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; Howard
University School of Law; the National Association of Black
Sociologists; the National Association of Black Psychologists; the
National Association of Black Social Workers; the National Black Nurses
Association; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; the National
Dental Association; and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
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