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

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As was the case from 1999 to 2001, the focus on suspected deliverers of crack cocaine appears to be a significant cause of racial disparity in Seattle drug arrests. Two-thirds (67 percent) of those arrested for delivery of any serious drug are black. As previously noted, nearly three-fourths of these arrests involved crack cocaine, and nearly three-quarters of those arrested for delivery of crack cocaine were black. As a result, blacks comprise a large majority of those who are arrested for delivery of any serious drug. By contrast, less than one-fourth of those arrested for delivery during this time period are white (see Table 9). Heroin (n=6) Powder Cocaine (n=10) Methamphetamine (n=8) Crack Cocaine (n=209) Multiple drugs with Crack cocaine (n=20) Multiple drugs- No Crack cocaine (n=7) Other/ Unidentified (n=14) All Delivery Arrests (n=282) Table 9. The Race and Ethnicity of Purposeful Seattle Drug Delivery Arrestees, 2005–2006 White Black/ African American American Indian/ Alaska Native Hispanic/ Latino Asian 66.7% 16.7% 16.7% 0 0 50% 40% 0 10% 0 75% 0 0 25% 0 16.7% 74.6% 1% 4.8% 1.9% 20% 70% 5% 0 5% 42.9% 14.3% 0 0 42.9% 42.9% 57.1% 0 0 0 22.3% 67% 1.4% 5.7% 2.8% Source: Seattle Police Department incident reports. Notes: Figures are based on a four-month sample: April and May of 2005 and April and May of 2006. Race was unknown in two cases. Although the results indicate that fewer than one-fourth of those purposefully arrested for delivering a serious drug are white, it is likely that this figure shown over-estimates white representation among drug arrestees, as some of those classified as white are likely Hispanic. When Hispanic Surname Analysis was applied to the 1999–2001 arrest reports, the results indicated that officers identify white Hispanics as white about half the time and Hispanic about half of the 49
time. 87 As noted previously, this technique was not used in this analysis of the 2005–2006 arrest reports because the last name of the suspect was redacted in some of the records. However, we can estimate based on the previous pattern that roughly 12 percent of the delivery arrestees were Hispanic and 17 percent were white. Arrest outcomes varied somewhat by operation type. The majority of purposeful delivery arrests were the result of a buy-bust operation. Just over a quarter—28.7 percent—were the result of a “see-pop.” Just over 7 percent resulted from the execution of a narcotics search warrant, and the remainder resulted from another narcotics investigation (see Figure 8). Figure 8. Purposeful Seattle Drug Delivery Arrests by Operation Type, 2005-2006 12% 7% Buy Bust See-Pop 29% 52% Narcotics Search Warrant Other Source: Seattle Police Department incident reports. The majority of those arrested through buy-busts, see-pops and other narcotics investigations were black. A plurality (38.1 percent) of those arrested as a result of a narcotics search warrant were white (see Figure 9). Thus, a majority of those arrested as a result of three of the four “purposeful” operation types were black. Notably, these three operation types were responsible for 92.6 percent of all arrests. 87 Beckett 2004. 50
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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 20 and 21: esearchers found that rates of drug
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: ut only 89 for methamphetamine, ecs
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 104 and 105: Although the crack trade has been a
Page 106: 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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