original article
Laws factor in racial disparity
Experts assess study that shows county blacks get more time for drug offenses
By MICHELE CANTY
Daily Record/Sunday News
Article Launched: 12/09/2007 04:25:42 AM EST
Dec 9, 2007 — On Jan. 23, 140 bags of heroin were confiscated in York.
In April, during a month-long detail, police collected a 1-pound bag of cocaine from a suspect who tried to dump it while running from police.
Last month, police seized 125 grams of cocaine, worth more than $15,000, during another drug bust in the city.
Someone convicted for having that amount of drugs usually will get a state prison sentence. They're also the kind of drug busts that most often occur in York and could be one of the reasons for the racial disparities in state prison sentences found by a national study last week.
A Justice Policy Institute study showed York County sends black men and women to state prison on drug offenses at 24 times the rate of whites. The institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that advocates alternatives to incarceration, studied 198 of the nation's largest counties for almost a year to come up with the results, researchers said.
Local officials recognize that there may be disparities but note several possible causes, such as felony drug arrests and mandatory drug sentences, as part of what's behind the difference in state prison sentences given to black and white drug offenders.
Detective Andy Shaffer, who works with the York County Drug Task Force, said many of their cases and busts come from confidential informant tips. A drug addict or drug dealer often tells authorities about others to avoid prison time, Shaffer said.
Drug addicts from areas outside the city help fuel the market, providing buyers for York's dealers, Shaffer said.
Dealers peddling large amounts are more likely to be hit with felony charges, which often carry state prison sentences, the detective said.
Although the task force has focused on areas in York considered hotbeds for drug sales, such as the 600 block of West Princess Street, "we don't target one race or neighborhood," Shaffer said.
Study co-author Phillip Beatty said one cause of the disparities was law enforcement efforts targeting cities and open-air drug markets on street corners.
"The reason African Americans are so disproportionately impacted may, in part, be related to social policy, the amount spent on law enforcement and judiciary systems, and local drug enforcement practices," Beatty said in a news release.
In general, the county's municipalities had more drug arrests than York. According to task force statistics, which include busts from the 16 county departments who participate, 763 misdemeanor arrests were recorded so far this year.
Misdemeanor arrests stemmed from charges such as possession of drugs or of items used to smoke, inhale or inject them.
Felony arrests for the county topped out at 139 as of last week. Felony drug offenses that carry heavier state prison sentences include delivering and manufacturing drugs, according to state law.
The city's felonies, or more serious drug arrests, are more than double the county's number - 379 as of this month. Misdemeanor drug offenses for the city were listed at 157, according to drug task force statistics.
State prison time varies for felony drug charges, and those penalties are even stiffer if bumped up to federal charges, officials said.
Sentencing guidelines
The study's disparities have some roots in historical racial bias but could also be caused by sentencing guidelines, said David Polk, principal researcher with the Polk-Lepson Research Group and a professor at York College.
Federal drug sentencing guidelines set a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of 5 grams, or about a half-ounce, of crack, often found in inner cities and dealt by poor, black dealers, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported.
A dealer with powder cocaine, sometimes considered a "luxury" drug, would have to have 500 grams, or more than 1 pound, of cocaine to get the same sentence, the commission states.
"The way the laws are written, it's no wonder blacks are more likely to be spending time in state prison for drug offenses," Polk said. "Are the laws discriminatory? Yes, they are."
However, Pennsylvania law does not differentiate between crack and powder cocaine, York County First Assistant District Attorney Bill Graff said.
"Cocaine is cocaine. You don't get a walk for having powder and not crack," he said.
This summer, the Supreme Court agreed to look at the disparities in sentences for those convicted of crack and cocaine offenses. Through the years, several groups and organizations have decried the guidelines, saying they are unfair to minorities.
On the state level, mandatory sentences for selling drugs in school zones, which include schools, parks and day care centers, can also bump up state prison time, Shaffer said. Because York is only 5 square miles, much of the city falls into a school zone, or the 1,000-foot buffer zone around them included in the law, Shaffer said.
"With that conviction, it's an automatic year in state prison," Shaffer said. "That's on top of whatever other time (defendants) get."
The JPI study used U.S. Census and other data to determine state prison rates for the populations in 198 of the nation's largest counties - those with populations of 250,000 or more. Once researchers found a county's rate, they broke it down by race.
The study found that 97 percent of those counties had significant disparities in how black and white drug offenders were punished.
Researchers did not suggest specific changes for counties but told them to consider looking at their public safety spending and to use funds for community programs.
"We should free up local resources to fund (drug) treatment, job training, supportive housing, and other effective public safety strategies," Jason Ziedenberg, JPI executive director, said in a release.
JPI also encouraged local, state and federal policymakers to closely examine racial disparities in drug imprisonment rates resulting from current practices and to consider alternative approaches to reducing drug use and sales.
What the study says
Major study findings include:
· In 2002, there were 19.5 million illicit drug users, 1.5 million drug arrests, and 175,000 people admitted to state prison for drug offenses.
· While blacks and whites use and sell drugs at similar rates, blacks are 10 times more likely than whites to be sent to state prison for drug offenses.
· Of the 175,000 admitted to state prison nationwide in 2002, more than half were African American, despite the fact that blacks make up less than 13 percent of the U.S. population.
· There is no relationship between the rates at which people are sent to prison for drug offenses and the rates at which people use drugs in counties.
· Counties that spent more money on law enforcement and the judicial system sent more defendants to state prison.
Source: Justice Policy Institute study
By the numbers
York County Drug Task Force confiscated drugs worth the following amounts in operations with the 16 police departments involved in the organization so far this year:
Heroin
York: $86,627
York County: $7,895
Cocaine (crack and powder)
York: $520,948
York County: $31,620
Marijuana
York: $42,055
York County: $422,853
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