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

In sum, many of the arrest patterns previously documented continue to
characterize Seattle drug delivery arrests. In particular, the majority of SPD
delivery arrests involving serious drugs involve black suspects and crack
cocaine. Arrests also continue to be geographically concentrated in the
downtown area, and most occur outdoors.
RACIAL DISPARITY IN SEATTLE DRUG ARRESTS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Racial disproportionality in Seattle drug arrests continues to be large relative to
other mid-sized (and large) cities. 90 Table 10 shows the white and black drug
arrest rates 91 in mid-sized cities (with populations ranging from 300,000 to
800,000) for all drug-related arrests and arrests for delivery/sale of serious drugs.
Table 10 also shows the black “over-representation” ratio, that is, the ratio of the
black-to-white drug arrest rate for both of these categories. A black-to-white
drug arrest rate ratio of 2 indicates that the black drug arrest rate is twice the
white rate; a black-to-white drug arrest rate ratio of 10 means that the black drug
arrest rate is ten times higher than the white drug arrest rate. The SPD reported
its total number of drug arrests to the FBI in 2006, but did not report the number
of drug sales arrests. SPD figures were used to calculate the total black and white
drug arrest rates; the results of the analysis of the four-month 2005–2006
sampling period were extrapolated to 2006 and used to estimate the black and
white serious drug delivery arrest rates for that year.
According to the SPD’s reported figures, Seattle has the fourth highest black total
drug arrest rate—54.7 per 1,000 residents—of any mid-sized U.S. city for which
data are available. 92 These figures also indicate that Seattle has the second highest
black-to-white drug arrest ratio (13.6). That is, Seattle’s total black drug arrest
rate was 13.6 times higher than the total white drug arrest rate. Of the 40 midsized
cities that reported their arrest statistics to the FBI, only Minneapolis had a
higher total black-to-white drug arrest ratio. 93
90 See also Beckett et al. 2006.
91 Rates were calculated per 1,000 residents of each race.
92
Among mid-sized cities, only San Francisco, Baltimore and Sacramento had higher black drug
arrest rates. Only one (Las Vegas) of the nine larger cities that reported 2006 data to the FBI’s
Uniform Crime Reporting Program had a higher black drug arrest rate than Seattle. Thus, the
black drug arrest rate in Seattle was fifth highest among the 49 largest cities for which data are
available for 2006. This is particularly notable given that very few marijuana arrests take place
in Seattle since the adoption of proposition I-75 in 2003 (Marijuana Policy Review Panel 2007).
93
It is worth noting that although the disparity is very large in Minneapolis, the white and
especially black drug sales arrest rates in that city are far lower than those found in Seattle,
meaning that the volume of arrests is comparatively smaller in Minneapolis than in Seattle for
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