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

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for delivering a serious drug in Seattle were arrested for delivering crack cocaine, and roughly the same proportion of those arrested for delivering crack cocaine were black. Comparing the racial composition of those arrested for crack cocaine alone or crack cocaine in combination with that of those arrested for all other serious drugs (heroin, powder cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine, ecstasy and/or prescription drugs) indicates that the focus on crack cocaine is a fundamental cause of racial disparity in drug arrests. Specifically, these figures indicate that if the SPD were to stop arresting people for delivering crack cocaine, but keep all other priorities and practices constant, the racial composition of those arrested for delivering serious drugs in Seattle would be significantly altered. In this hypothetical scenario, the share of all purposeful delivery arrests involving a serious drug that involved black suspects drops sharply, from 67 percent to 19.4 percent (see Figure 14). Figure 14. Percentage of Purposeful Seattle Drug Delivery Arrests Involving Blacks, 2005-2006 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Crack Cocaine No Crack Cocaine All Arrests Source: Seattle Police Department incident reports. Note: The “no crack cocaine” category includes those arrested for powder cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, heroin, prescription drugs or any combination of these. It does not include those arrested for crack cocaine, multiple drugs including crack cocaine, unspecified cocaine or unspecified drug (which may be crack cocaine). 77
As shown in Figure 15, the impact of the focus on crack cocaine is far greater than the impact of the focus on the downtown market or outdoor markets generally (see Figure 15). Figure 15. Percentage of Purposeful Delivery Arrests Involving Black Suspects by Arrest Type, 2005-2006 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Outdoor Indoor Downtown Not Downtown Crack Cocaine No Crack Cocaine Source: Seattle Police Department incident reports. As shown above, the only hypothetical scenario in which the black share of delivery arrestees diminishes sharply is the “no crack cocaine arrests” scenario. This counterfactual analysis thus indicates that the SPD’s focus on crack cocaine is the fundamental cause of racial disparity in arrest outcomes. Based on these figures, we can calculate that, holding all other practices and priorities constant, the black to white drug arrest ratio would drop from 21 to 2.8 were the SPD to cease making arrests for delivery of crack cocaine. That is, rather than being 21 times higher than the white drug delivery arrest rate, the black drug delivery arrest rate would be 2.8 times higher than the white drug delivery arrest rate. The evidence thus indicates that the SPD’s concentration on crack cocaine deliverers is a fundamental cause of racial disparity in drug arrests. Of all the serious drugs considered in this report, crack cocaine is the one that is most strongly associated with blacks. This association is grounded in empirical evidence, which, as seen in Part I of this report, shows that a larger share of those who use and deliver crack cocaine are black than is the case for any other serious drug. It is also the case that crack cocaine has been linked not just to blacks, but 78
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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
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
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 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
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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