The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and Characteristics of Punitive Counties
Phillip Beatty, Amanda Petteruti and Jason Ziedenberg, "The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and Characteristics of Punitive Counties," Justice Policy Institute (December 2007).
This report presents evidence that the United States' unmatched propensity for incarceration of its citizens for drug offenses suffers from significant racial disparity against African-Americans. The Justice Policy Institute analyzed incarceration rates in relation to various characteristics on a county level and found that counties with high unemployment, poverty, higher proportions of African-Americans, and hefty 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. After a discussion of possible causes of racial disparity in drug incarceration, the report concludes with a call for evidence-based drug enforcement practices.
Full text available for free at: http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/07-12_REP_Vortex_AC-DP.pdf
