RACE AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF DRUG DELIVERY LAWS IN ...

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Although the crack trade has been associated with high levels of systemic violence (that is, violence that results from the unregulated nature of the illegal drug market) in some cities during some time periods, 146 Seattle police officials have noted that this association does not appear to exist in Seattle. According to these officials, “There has not been a significant level of violence associated with crack.” 147 More generally, there is evidence that the association between the crack cocaine market and systemic violence in the 1980s and early 1990s in some urban areas was a function of the novelty of the drug and resulting instability of the crack market. 148 As the crack market stabilized, the connection between the crack market and violence, as well as the difference between the crack market and other drug markets, diminished. For example, the Sentencing Commission recently reported that a minority of federal-level crack offenders possessed a weapon at the time of their arrest, and that powder cocaine offenders were only very slightly less likely than crack offenders to possess a weapon when arrested. 149 The evidence from Seattle actually indicates that here, crack cocaine arrestees are less likely to carry dangerous weapons than any other type of serious drug arrestee. 150 This weapons analysis utilized data that included all arrests for all drug offenses that resulted from any operation type. 151 Although 56.4 percent of all drug arrests involved (only) crack cocaine, 26.2 percent of arrests in which dangerous weapons were seized involved crack cocaine alone. By contrast, the percentage of arrests involving only heroin or methamphetamine that involved a dangerous weapon was significantly greater than the proportion of arrests that involved those narcotics (see the third and fourth columns of Table 19). Expressed differently, these figures indicate that crack cocaine arrestees were the least likely to have a dangerous weapon in their possession at the time of arrest. 146 Blumstein 1995; Brownstein et al. 1992; Goldstein et al. 1997. 147 Quoted in Klement and Siggins 2001: 37. 148 Blumstein 1995; Taylor and Brownstein 2003. 149 USSC 2002; 2007. 150 In this analysis, all firearms, any fixed blade knife, and any type of knife with a blade of 3.5 inches in length or more are considered dangerous weapons, per Seattle, Wa. Mun. Code § 12A.14.010 (defining, inter alia, “dangerous knife,” “fixed-blade knife,” and “firearm” for the purposes of the Code provisions regulating the use of weapons). 151 Of the purposeful serious drug delivery arrests made by the SPD in the four-month sampling period, only five involved weapons. To obtain a more meaningful understanding of the relationship between drug markets and weapons, this analysis therefore includes all drug arrests. Overall, 42 of the 1282 drug arrests (3.2 percent) made by the SPD in April and May 2005 and April and May2006 led to the seizure of a dangerous weapon. 95
Specifically, 1.4 percent of crack cocaine arrestees, 2.9 percent of powder cocaine arrestees, 8.3 percent of heroin arrestees, 12.1 percent of all methamphetamine arrestees, and 23.1 percent of all ecstasy arrestees possessed a dangerous weapon at the time of their arrest (see the far right column of Table 19). Table 19. Weapons Found in Seattle Drug Arrests, 2005–2006 Arrests with Dangerous Knives (n=16) Arrests with Firearms (n=26) Arrests with Any Dangerous Weapon (n=42) All Drug Arrests (n=1,282) Percentage of Arrests with a Dangerous Weapon Drug Crack Cocaine 37.5% 19.2% 26.2% 56.4% 1.4% Methamphetamine 25% 23% 23.8% 6.5% 12.1% Heroin 12.5% 11.5% 11.9% 4.7% 8.3% Ecstasy 0 11.5% 7.1% 1% 23.1% Powder Cocaine 6.3% 0 2.4% 2.7% 2.9% Race of Suspect White 81.3% 34.6% 52.4% 40% 4.8% Black 12.5% 46.1% 33.3% 52.4% 2.1% Asian 6.3% 19.2% 14.3% 5.5% 8.5% Type of Location Indoor 25% 23.1% 23.8% 17.4% 4.5% Outdoor 56.3% 26.9% 38.1% 62.8% 2% Vehicle 18.8% 50% 38.1% 19.3% 6.5% Source: Seattle Police Department incident reports. Note: Includes all drug arrests made during April or May of 2005 and April or May of 2006. 96
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RACE AND DRUG LAW ENFORCEMENT IN SE
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This report was commissioned as par
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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES PAGE TAB
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Figure 9. Purposeful Seattle Drug D
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SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS FINDING 1 T
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FINDING 4 The focus on crack cocain
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INTRODUCTION Less than 5 percent of
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RACIAL DISPARITIES IN SEATTLE DRUG
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Table 1. Black and White Drug Arres
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esearchers found that rates of drug
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RESEARCH DESIGN AND ORGANIZATION OF
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serious drugs in Seattle are white.
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users: “Persons at almost all lev
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as the goal is to provide samples o
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percent of white Seattle residents,
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acial/ethnic groups. These data ind
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When approaching clients, surveyors
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youth. However, these surveys likel
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80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
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or partially publicly-funded treatm
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Primary Drug of Abuse Cocaine (all
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system at the time of their death w
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did not transfer drugs to the buyer
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Insofar as many drug users knowingl
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the person who provided these subst
Page 53 and 54: Table 7. Racial and Ethnic Composit
Page 55 and 56: Table 8. Summary of Data Pertaining
Page 57 and 58: ut only 89 for methamphetamine, ecs
Page 59 and 60: time. 87 As noted previously, this
Page 61 and 62: Drug delivery arrests continue to b
Page 63 and 64: In sum, many of the arrest patterns
Page 65 and 66: Table 10. Racial Disparity in Drug
Page 68 and 69: PART III: EXPLAINING RACIAL DISPARI
Page 70 and 71: that a higher percentage of whites
Page 72 and 73: After clients had completed their s
Page 74 and 75: Table 13. Racial and Ethnic Composi
Page 76 and 77: whites engaging in the same behavio
Page 78 and 79: Analysis of the patterns found in t
Page 80 and 81: Table 16. Statistical Significance
Page 82 and 83: In sum, the evidence shows that rac
Page 84 and 85: those delivering drugs downtown wer
Page 86 and 87: for delivering a serious drug in Se
Page 88 and 89: to danger, instantaneous addiction
Page 90 and 91: 9.6 percent primarily abused other
Page 92 and 93: percent of those delivering drugs d
Page 94 and 95: officers made a drug arrest, issued
Page 96 and 97: Figure 18. Geographic Distribution
Page 98 and 99: Figure 20. Geographic Distribution
Page 100 and 101: As these maps illustrate, civilian
Page 102 and 103: and infant health by crack cocaine
Page 106: Weapons were more likely to be seiz
Page 109 and 110: supports an alternative explanation
Page 111 and 112: Buckman, Charles, and John Lamberth
Page 113 and 114: Hagedorn, John M. 1994. “Homeboys
Page 115 and 116: Murphy, Sheigla and Dan Waldorf. 19
Page 117 and 118: Ritter, Alison. 2005. A Review of A
Page 119 and 120: United Nations International Drug C
Page 121 and 122: APPENDIX B: UNRELIABLE 9-1-1 CALL E
Page 123 and 124: Complaint: Arrival: Officer Update:
Page 126: ABOUT THE AUTHOR Katherine Beckett
Page 130: THE DEFENDER ASSOCIATION
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