Racial Disparity in Drug Law Convictions

On October 20, 2004 a groundbreaking coalition of black professional organizations came together to form the National African American Drug Policy Coalition (NAADPC). The NAADPC urgently seeks alternatives to misguided drug policies that have led to mass incarceration. The NAADPC was founded by Clyde Bailey Sr., the past president of the National Bar Association. The NAADPC will target appropriate treatment for drug addictions, including pretrial diversion, and "therapeutic sentencing", and promote more education and community prevention. "What we hope to do is shift public resources into education, prevention, treatment and research programs that have proven more effective in reducing drug abuse rather than through the use of expensive criminal sanctions. We are trying to focus on the health issues of these people rather than criminalizing the behavior," said Clyde E. Bailey. Since 1994, the disparity between white and non white prisoners as a percentage of the total prison population has widened dramatically. State prison incarceration rates for African Americans for drug law violations are almost 20 times those of whites. Although whites account for 69% of drug offense arrestee=s and blacks 29%, blacks are disproportionately convicted and comprise 48% of the U.S. prison population, while they are only 12.5% of the general population. In 1998, 3% of all black men were in prison on any given day. And one out of three Black men aged 20 -29 were under some form of criminal justice control, which are more black men than were in college. [more]

• NAADPC membership includes a broad base of black professional organizations, including the National Bar Association; the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives; Howard University School of Law; the National Association of Black Sociologists; the National Association of Black Psychologists; the National Association of Black Social Workers; the National Black Nurses Association; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; the National Dental Association; and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
  
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