Thursday, August 04, 2005
4 August 2005
More Evidence
also of interest:
In 1983 (3 years before the 1986 drug law passed) 8.8 percent of the 660,800 people in federal, state, and local prisions and jails were incarcerated for drug-related offenses. By 1993, the total prison population was 1.4 million, and 25.1 percent were incarcerated for drug offenses. On the surface, it looks like the 1986 drug law had done a bang-up job of getting drug offenders off the street. However, it was not nearly as simple as that. "Between 1986 and 1991, the incarceration rate for white males convicted on drug crimes increased by 106 percent." For black males convicted of the same types of drug crimes, the incarceration rate increased by 429 percent, and black women... 828 percent!
Go figure.
In 1988, congress passed a law expanding the crimes for which the federal death penalty could be imposed. These crimes included things like drug-related murders, and murders committed by drug gangs. Convictions under said act between '89 and '96 were 70 percent white and 24 percent black. (bear in mind that blacks make up around 11 to 16 percent of the population) However, 90 percent of the times in such cases that the death penalty was saught it was wagains tnon-whites; 78 percent black and ther rest Hispanic. Regardless of the offense, blacks are far more likely to find themselves on death row than whites. Of all the inmates on Death Row, both federal and state, 50 percent are black. Since 1976, 40% of America's murder victims have been black, but a striking 90% of death sentences imposed in homicide cases have been for those that involved white victims. Not only are blacks unfairly prosecuted and sentenced, but they are also not accorded the same protections and recourse under the law. The government is sticking it to black criminals and victims while their white counterparts get off easier and get stronger retribution.
also of interest:
In 1983 (3 years before the 1986 drug law passed) 8.8 percent of the 660,800 people in federal, state, and local prisions and jails were incarcerated for drug-related offenses. By 1993, the total prison population was 1.4 million, and 25.1 percent were incarcerated for drug offenses. On the surface, it looks like the 1986 drug law had done a bang-up job of getting drug offenders off the street. However, it was not nearly as simple as that. "Between 1986 and 1991, the incarceration rate for white males convicted on drug crimes increased by 106 percent." For black males convicted of the same types of drug crimes, the incarceration rate increased by 429 percent, and black women... 828 percent!
Go figure.
In 1988, congress passed a law expanding the crimes for which the federal death penalty could be imposed. These crimes included things like drug-related murders, and murders committed by drug gangs. Convictions under said act between '89 and '96 were 70 percent white and 24 percent black. (bear in mind that blacks make up around 11 to 16 percent of the population) However, 90 percent of the times in such cases that the death penalty was saught it was wagains tnon-whites; 78 percent black and ther rest Hispanic. Regardless of the offense, blacks are far more likely to find themselves on death row than whites. Of all the inmates on Death Row, both federal and state, 50 percent are black. Since 1976, 40% of America's murder victims have been black, but a striking 90% of death sentences imposed in homicide cases have been for those that involved white victims. Not only are blacks unfairly prosecuted and sentenced, but they are also not accorded the same protections and recourse under the law. The government is sticking it to black criminals and victims while their white counterparts get off easier and get stronger retribution.
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