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Study says black residents...

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Study says black residents are jailed for drugs more than whites

Web Posted: 12/05/2007 12:43 AM CST

Jeorge Zarazua
Express-News

African Americans in Bexar County are 19 times more likely to be imprisoned for drug crimes than whites, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute released Tuesday.

And the trend is not isolated to Bexar County alone.

The study revealed that 97 percent of the nation's large-population counties incarcerate African Americans at a higher rate than whites. The highest discrepancy in Texas was found in Hidalgo County, where African Americans were up to 36 times more likely to be locked up, despite the fact that they make up less than 1 percent of the county's population.

The Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit research group that promotes alternatives to incarceration, examined nearly 200 counties in the U.S. with populations of more than 250,000.

According to the study, African Americans and whites use and sell drugs at similar rates, but more African Americans are punished for doing so.

More specifically, the study found that more than half of the 175,000 people sent to state prisons nationwide in 2002 on drug convictions were African American, despite the fact that African Americans make up less than 13 percent of the U.S. population.

Cliff Herberg, first assistant criminal district attorney for Bexar County, questioned the report's findings.

“This is a group clearly with an agenda to paint the statistics favoring an end to prisons,” Herberg said. “I'm hesitant to comment because I haven't had a chance to analyze the numbers here.”

He said the numbers appeared skewed because most first-time drug offenders prosecuted for possession are typically placed on probation.

And, he said, courts and juries decide what punishment is meted out, not prosecutors or law enforcement officers.

In Bexar County, where African Americans account for 7 percent of the population, they are incarcerated at higher rates than whites — 156 per 100,000 African Americans compared with 80 per 100,000 whites. The figure represents incarceration rates for all drug offenses.

Overall, the study found that 46 out of every 100,000 people in Bexar County are sent to prison on drug convictions every year.

In Hidalgo County, 42 per 100,000 African Americans are incarcerated, compared to 1 per 100,000 whites.

The report is based on 2002 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, as well as numbers from the bureau's 2006 National Corrections Reporting Program.

René Guerra, criminal district attorney for Hidalgo County, said because the county has a very low African American population, any statistics generated would be skewed.

“Anybody can use figures to win their point of view, when in essence it's not a fair assessment,” he said.

Jason Ziedenberg, the institute's executive director, said several factors account for the disparities. They include police practices, treatment before the courts and the availability of drug treatment programs for African Americans compared to whites.

“There are other ways to deal with crime other than sentencing people to prison and enforcing laws that are widely violated,” Ziedenberg said.

The Justice Policy Institute said there is little evidence to suggest that high rates of incarceration affect drug use rates or deter drug users.