America's New Jim Crow
To what extent is drug crime prosecution in the United States biased against black Americans?
Let's take a look at the data
.
Drug use prevalence by race, 2007
Have you used any illicit or illegal drugs within the past 12 months?
Source:
National Institutes of Health
Arrest and incarceration rate, non violent drug offenses, % of population by race, 1978 - 2011
Click and drag to guess the line for black Americans.
Source:
ICPSR
Hard to believe?
Our judicial system is heavily skewed towards incarcerating black Americans for non-violent drug offenses.
Estimated relative number of sentenced prisoners by non-violent offense, 2011
Black Americans make up about 12% of the U.S. Population,
although almost 40% of America's incarcerated
Source:
US Bureau of Justice Statistics
Curious as to why this might be?
Many have argued that this growing trend since the 1980s is largely a result of
America's War on Drugs
.
Background photo courtesy of
Flickr Creative Commons
