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

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esearchers found that rates of drug-selling were 1.9 times higher among black youth than white youth, but that referral rates (treated in this study as analogous to arrest) for that same behavior were 18.8 times higher for black than white youth. The results of the DOJ study indicate that race differences in rates of drug selling explain approximately 10 percent of the large disparity between black and white drug arrest rates for Seattle youth, indicating that the vast majority of the observed racial disparity in those drug sales arrests was largely a function of enforcement practices rather than racial differences in offense rates. Similarly, prior research by the author of this report and affiliated researchers found that blacks were significantly over-represented among those arrested between 1999 and 2001 in Seattle for drug possession 26 and drug delivery 27 relative to those who use and deliver illegal drugs in Seattle. Key findings from these studies include the following: • In Seattle, a majority of users of serious drugs, with the possible exception of crack cocaine, are white. • The majority of needle exchangers surveyed in Seattle obtained their drugs (primarily heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine) from a white person. Much smaller percentages reported obtaining those substances from a black person. • 64.2 percent of those purposefully arrested 28 for delivery of serious drugs, including heroin, methamphetamine, powder cocaine, crack cocaine and ecstasy, in Seattle from January 1999 to April 2001 were black. David Hawkins, Kenyatta Etchison, and James Herbert Williams. The data for this study were drawn from “a prospective longitudinal survey of 808 children who consented to participate in the study, drawn from the population of 1,053 fifth-grade students attending 18 elementary schools serving high-crime and other neighborhoods of Seattle in the fall of 1985 . . . Slightly less than half identified themselves as European-American (47 percent), about one-fourth (26 percent) as African American, 22 percent as Asian American, and 5 percent as Native American. Five percent of the sample was Hispanic” (Appendix A, p. A51). Although the average family income level of those included in the study was generally low, rates of poverty were significantly higher among African American participants: 75.4 percent of the African American youth were eligible for the free lunch program, compared with only 31.2 percent of the Caucasian youth. Self-report information was collected from age 11 to age 17 for eight types of offenses, one of which is drug sales. Survey response rates were very high; 94 percent of the youths were interviewed at age 17. According to the authors of the report, most referrals to the juvenile court for criminal offenses followed arrests by the police. 26 Beckett, Nyrop, Pfingst and Bowen 2005. 27 Beckett 2004; Beckett 2004; Beckett, Nyrop and Pfingst 2006. 28 In the previous study, “purposeful” arrests included those that resulted from buy-busts, reverse buy-busts, and narcotics search warrants; “serious drugs” included heroin, crack 11
• The vast majority (over 74 percent) of purposeful drug delivery arrests involved crack cocaine. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) made 2,018 arrests for crack cocaine delivery, but only 138 for methamphetamine, ecstasy and powder cocaine combined, from 1999 to 2001. • Because most arrests involved crack cocaine, and because 79 percent of those purposefully arrested for delivering crack cocaine were black, nearly two-thirds (64.2 percent) of those purposefully arrested for delivering one of the five serious drugs included in the analysis were black. The focus on crack cocaine is thus a leading cause of racial disparity in drug delivery arrests. • The focus on outdoor drug activity also contributed to the overrepresentation of blacks among drug arrestees. However, the majority of those arrested both outdoors and indoors were black. • The racially diverse downtown market was the site of significantly more drug delivery arrests in both absolute and relative terms than the predominantly white outdoor market in Capitol Hill. Observed drug deliveries in the downtown market outnumbered observed drug deliveries in Capitol Hill by a ratio of 4.4 to 1; but downtown delivery arrests outnumbered Capitol Hill delivery arrests by over 25 to 1. In sum, across the nation, drug arrests are an important cause of rising incarceration rates and racial disparities in the criminal justice system. Prior studies have found that racial disparities in Seattle drug arrests are comparatively large, and that little of the racial disproportionality in Seattle drug arrests is a function of racial differences in rates of offending. Instead, two organizational practices explained much of this disparity: the police focus on (some) outdoor drug markets, particularly those located in downtown neighborhoods, and on those who deliver crack cocaine (as opposed to any other serious drug). The evidence presented in prior studies also indicated that these organizational practices were not a function of race-neutral policy considerations such as public health risk or citizen complaints about drug activity. cocaine, powder cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy (MDMA); and “delivery arrests” included arrests involving allegations of delivery of controlled substances or possession with intent to deliver controlled substances. These categories have been slightly modified in the present study; the differences are explained at page 12-16 of the report. 12
Page 1 and 2: RACE AND DRUG LAW ENFORCEMENT IN SE
Page 3 and 4: This report was commissioned as par
Page 5 and 6: LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES PAGE TAB
Page 7 and 8: Figure 9. Purposeful Seattle Drug D
Page 10 and 11: SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS FINDING 1 T
Page 12 and 13: FINDING 4 The focus on crack cocain
Page 14 and 15: INTRODUCTION Less than 5 percent of
Page 16 and 17: RACIAL DISPARITIES IN SEATTLE DRUG
Page 18 and 19: Table 1. Black and White Drug Arres
Page 22 and 23: RESEARCH DESIGN AND ORGANIZATION OF
Page 24: serious drugs in Seattle are white.
Page 27 and 28: users: “Persons at almost all lev
Page 29 and 30: as the goal is to provide samples o
Page 31 and 32: percent of white Seattle residents,
Page 33 and 34: acial/ethnic groups. These data ind
Page 35 and 36: When approaching clients, surveyors
Page 37 and 38: youth. However, these surveys likel
Page 39 and 40: 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
Page 41 and 42: or partially publicly-funded treatm
Page 43 and 44: Primary Drug of Abuse Cocaine (all
Page 45 and 46: system at the time of their death w
Page 47 and 48: did not transfer drugs to the buyer
Page 49 and 50: Insofar as many drug users knowingl
Page 51 and 52: 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
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After clients had completed their s
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Table 13. Racial and Ethnic Composi
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whites engaging in the same behavio
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Analysis of the patterns found in t
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Table 16. Statistical Significance
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In sum, the evidence shows that rac
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those delivering drugs downtown wer
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for delivering a serious drug in Se
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to danger, instantaneous addiction
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9.6 percent primarily abused other
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percent of those delivering drugs d
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officers made a drug arrest, issued
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Figure 18. Geographic Distribution
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Figure 20. Geographic Distribution
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As these maps illustrate, civilian
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and infant health by crack cocaine
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Although the crack trade has been a
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Weapons were more likely to be seiz
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supports an alternative explanation
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Buckman, Charles, and John Lamberth
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Hagedorn, John M. 1994. “Homeboys
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Murphy, Sheigla and Dan Waldorf. 19
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Ritter, Alison. 2005. A Review of A
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United Nations International Drug C
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APPENDIX B: UNRELIABLE 9-1-1 CALL E
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Complaint: Arrival: Officer Update:
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Katherine Beckett
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THE DEFENDER ASSOCIATION
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