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Serving People from Arrest to Reintegration

Disparity By Geography: The War on Drugs in American Cities

  • Organization: The Sentencing Project
  • Author: Ryan King
  • Document Type: Report
  • Date Created: Friday, May 09, 2008
  • Submitted: Friday, May 09, 2008
  • Attachment(s): LINK

New report by The Sentencing Project examines the racial and geographic disparity in the drug war. The first city-level analysis of drug arrests, examining data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980-2003. The study found that since 1980, the rate of drug arrests in American cities for African Americans increased by 225%, compared to 70% among whites. Black arrest rates grew by more than 500% in 11 cities during this period and in nearly half of the cities, the odds of arrest for a drug offense among African Americans relative to whites more than doubled.

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