According to a recent study conducted by the Washington D.C.-based Sentencing Project, a demographic shift is taking place with regards to those sentenced for drug offenses. Between 1999 to 2005 there was a 22% decrease in the number of black drug offenders and a 43% increase in white drug offenders. The number of blacks sentenced to state prisons for drug offenses fell from 145,000 to 113,500, while the number of whites rose from 50,000 to 72,000. Hispanic numbers remained relatively stable at 51,000. State prison drug offender inmate populations have also changed. Black inmates made up 58% of the population in 1999, but this percentage fell to 45% in 2005. The reverse occurred with white inmates who made up 20% of the population in 1999 but 29% in 2005. Hispanic numbers remained constant in this regard as well, at 20%.
One reason given for this shift is the recent targeting by American law enforcement agencies of the use and distribution of methamphetamine, which has been gaining popularity in the United States. Previously, crack and cocaine were the main targets, and 80% of these offenders were black. This is in contrast to methamphetamine demographics, with 20% of inmates convicted for using or distributing meth being white and only 1% being black.
Crack and cocaine arrests and convictions have also been declining. Some claim this is due to distributors moving out of the streets and inside buildings, making it harder for authorities to make arrests.
There are also more drug courts set up in urban black communities. These courts offer alternatives to state prison, such as rigorous substance-abuse treatment and criminal rehabilitation programs. Their placement mostly in black urban communities means that fewer drug offenders in these areas are being sentenced to state prisons.
Some say that this shift in prison demographics is not visible within state prison systems, where blacks still make up a disproportionate number of the inmates.
-Kyle Kuersten
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