a possession charge rather than an “other” charge, and 8.2 times more likely to have a sales charge, whereas white people were more likely to have criminal charges that were indirectly related to drugs, such as theft, or to be high while committing a crime.
“The overwhelming increase in incarceration, attributed to the drug war, has disproportionately affected black communities,” researchers stated, adding that black people were incarcerated at a rate of 5 to 7 times higher than white people and accounted for nearly half of all prisoners incarcerated with a sentence of more than a year for a drug-related offense.
Researchers also examined trends of self-reporting drug use, the severity of drug problems, and treatment between blacks and whites. They found that people of both races reported similar rates of drug use in the six months before their most recent criminal justice event. However, only 13 percent of whites reported no drug problems in the month before their most recent event, as opposed to 37 percent of blacks who reported not having a drug problem. White people reported experiencing drug problems on 19 of the 30 days in the month before their most recent criminal justice event, whereas black people experienced drug problems on 9 of the 30 days.
Drug treatment was the most accessed service for both groups through their probation and parole officers. Researchers found that black people who were examined had accessed job training, government benefits, and education services through their parole or probation officer more than white people had.
The differences found in this research have “important programming and policy implications,” researchers wrote. “If we do not specifically pay attention to race, when race is a fundamental organizing principal of our society, our policies regarding treatment and reentry services will by default guarantee racial inequality.”
