[news] [NBPP-National] The New American Apartheid Part III: Jailing Minority Kids

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http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/2004/06/27301.php

The New American Apartheid Part III
by Ytzhak . 
<http://victoria.indymedia.org/news/?author=Ytzhak&comments=yes> 
Wednesday June 23, 2004 at 08:50 AM
montfu65 at hotmail.com <mailto:montfu65 at hotmail.com>

    Growing numbers of African-American youths are finding themselves
    within the juvenile justice system. They are more likely to be
    detained, more likely to have their cases petitioned to go before a
    judge, more likely to be waived to the adult system and more likely
    to be institutionalized than their white counterparts. As noted in
    several studies, black youths are more likely to be detained than
    white youths, regardless of offense charged.

The New American Apartheid Part III
by Randall Shelden and William B. Brown; http://www.sheldensays.com; 
June 22, 2004

Jailing Minority Kids

Growing numbers of African-American youths are finding themselves within 
the juvenile justice system. They are more likely to be detained, more 
likely to have their cases petitioned to go before a judge, more likely 
to be waived to the adult system and more likely to be institutionalized 
than their white counterparts. As noted in several studies, black youths 
are more likely to be detained than white youths, regardless of offense 
charged.

Indeed, according to 2001 official data, no matter what the most serious 
offense charged happens to be, black and Latino youths are far more 
likely to be detained that whites. For blacks, the detention rate for 
all offenses is about five times that of whites and about double that 
for Latinos. For index crimes against the person, the black detention 
rate is just over 5 times greater than whites, while the Latino rate is 
about 2 and one-half times as great. The rate difference is the greatest 
for those charged with drug offenses: black youths are seven times more 
likely to be detained than white youths. The importance of being 
detained cannot be denied, for studies have shown that those who are 
detained are far more likely to receive the most severe final 
disposition. This last point is further underscored by commitment rates 
to youth prisons (2001 data).

Examining these commitment rates, we discover that the racial 
differentials are similar to detention rates. Here we find that:

· The overall rate for black youths is four times greater than for 
whites; the Latino rate is about one and a half times greater than whites;

· Even when considering the offenses, these rates remain the highest for 
black youth in each case, with Latinos ranked second;

· In the case of drug offenses, black youths were more than six times 
more likely to be committed than whites and Latinos were more than twice 
as likely as whites to be committed.

The ranking of both detention and commitment rates - blacks first, 
Latinos second, and whites last for each offense type - reminds us of a 
phrase heard repeatedly during the civil rights movement: "If you're 
white, you're all right; if you're brown, stick around; if you're black, 
stay back."

It is apparent from the available evidence that juvenile detention 
centers and youth "correctional" institutions have become part of the 
"new American apartheid." What should be noted in particular is the rate 
differentials for drug offenses. Part of this must be explained by 
examining who is targeted for arrest in the war on drugs. Clearly, like 
their adult counterparts, black juveniles are the most heavily targeted. 
A comparative look bears this out. Whereas in 1972 white youths had a 
higher arrest rate for drugs than blacks, by the early 1980s (at roughly 
the beginning of the "war on drugs") the difference was reversed. By 
1995 the change was incredible: the arrest rate for black youths was 
almost three times greater than for whites! During the period between 
1972 and 1995 there was a more than 400 percent increase in arrest rates 
for black youth on drug charges.

As the research by Jerome Miller (from his book "Search and Destroy") 
has shown, young black males have received the brunt of law enforcement 
efforts to "crack down on drugs." He notes that in Baltimore, for 
example, African-Americans were being arrested at a rate six times that 
of whites and more than 90% were for possession.

In Miller's study of Baltimore, he found that during 1981 only 15 white 
juveniles were arrested on drug charges, compared to 86 blacks; in 1991, 
however, the number of whites arrested dropped to a mere 13, while the 
number of blacks skyrocketed to a phenomenal 1,304, or an increase of 
1,416%! The ratio of black youths to whites went from about 6:1 to 100:1.

Another study found that "black youths are more often charged with the 
felony when [the] offense could be considered a misdemeanor..." Also, 
those cases referred to court "are judged as in need of formal 
processing more often when minority youths are involved." When white 
youths received placements, such "placements" are most often "group home 
settings or drug treatment while placements for minorities more 
typically are public residential facilities, including those in the 
state which provide the most restrictive confinement." Another study 
found evidence of substantial increases in minority youths being 
referred to juvenile court, thus increasing the likelihood of being 
detained. But, cases of the detention, petition and placement of 
minorities nevertheless exceeded what would have been expected given the 
increases in referrals. There has been an increase in the formal 
handling of drug cases, which has become a disadvantage to minorities. 
This study concluded that: "Given the proactive nature of drug 
enforcement, these findings raise fundamental questions about the 
targets of investigation and apprehension under the recent war on 
drugs." As noted in a study of Georgia's crack-down on drugs, the higher 
arrest rate for blacks was attributed to one single factor: "it is 
easier to make drug arrests in low-income neighborhoods. Most drug 
arrests in Georgia are of lower-level dealers and buyers and occur in 
low-income minority areas. Retail drug sales in these neighborhoods 
frequently occur on the streets and between sellers and buyers who do 
not know each other. Most of these sellers are black. In contrast, white 
drug sellers tend to sell indoors, in bars and clubs and within private 
homes, and to more affluent purchasers, also primarily white."

A recent publication by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency 
Prevention called Juveniles in Corrections noted that in 1999 minorities 
accounted for 65 percent of those placed in private juvenile facilities 
and 55 percent placed in public institutions nationwide. For drug 
trafficking, black youth accounted for 65 percent in juvenile 
institutions, compared to only 18 percent Latinos and 16 percent whites. 
The custody rates were given for each state and there existed wide 
variations. For the United States as a whole, the custody rate for black 
youths was 1,004 compared to a rate of only 212 for whites and 485 for 
Latinos. In other words, black youths are placed in custody (detention 
facilities and correctional institutions) at a rate that is about five 
times that for whites and more than double than for Latinos. Custody 
rates for blacks range from a high of 2,908 in South Dakota to a low of 
87 in Hawaii.

What is often overlooked in the discussion of these recent trends is the 
impact these "get tough" policies and the "war on drugs" have had on 
women. The next section will review some rather disturbing trends in the 
incarceration of women offenders.

The Growing Incarceration of Black Women

One thing that cannot be overlooked in any analysis of women, crime and 
criminal justice is the interrelationship between class and race. 
Indeed, the vast majority of female offenders, especially those who end 
up in prison, are drawn from the lower class and are racial minorities.

One specific example of the role of class and race is demonstrated in a 
very detailed study of a sample of women offenders in a court system in 
New Haven, Connecticut. From a larger sample of 397 cases, this study 
focused in depth on a smaller sample of 40 men and 40 women who were 
sentenced to prison (that is, they went through all of the stages of the 
criminal justice process). Of the forty women, twenty-four (60%) were 
black, five (12%) were Puerto Rican and the remainder (28%) were white. 
Half of the women were raised in single-parent families, and only two of 
the women were described as growing up in "middle class households." 
Most of these women were described by Daly as having grown up in 
families "whose economic circumstances were precarious," while in about 
two-thirds of the cases their biological fathers were "out of the 
picture" while they were growing up. Only one-third completed high 
school or the equivalent GED (General Education Diploma). Two-thirds 
"had either a sporadic or no paid employment record" and over 80 percent 
were unemployed at the time of their most recent arrest.

The most dramatic illustrations of the lack of chivalry toward black and 
other minority women comes from examining who gets sentenced to prison. 
And this has been, in recent years, a direct result of the "war on 
drugs. As already noted, there is little relationship between race and 
illicit drug use, yet blacks and Latinos are far more likely to be 
arrested and sent to prison. For women, the poor in general and blacks 
in particular have been singled out.

While women constitute around 20 percent of all those arrested and only 
about six percent of those in prison, their numbers and their rate of 
incarceration has been dramatically increasing during the past twenty 
years. As of December 31, 2002, there were 97,491 women in federal and 
state prisons (compared to only 8,850 in 1976), constituting 6.8 percent 
of all prisoners, versus 3.6 percent in 1976. These latest figures 
represent an incredible numerical increase of more than 800% and their 
proportion among all prisoners increased by more than 75% during the 
past quarter century. Moreover, the incarceration rate of women went 
from 8 per 100,000 in 1975 to 60 per 100,000 in 2002, for an increase of 
650%.

If this is not bad enough, a large percentage of women sentenced to 
prison on parole violations have not committed any new crimes, but 
rather were returned for not passing their urine tests. Moreover, the 
proportion of women sentenced to federal prison has zoomed upward 
because of drug offenses. In 1989, 44.5 percent of women in federal 
prison were in for drugs, and this figure went up to 68 percent in just 
two years. (More than one-third of the women doing time in prison on 
drug charges had been convicted of drug possession.) About twenty years 
ago about two-thirds of women convicted of felonies in federal court 
were given probation, but in 1991 only 28 percent were. Further, the 
average time served for women on drug offenses went from 27 months in 
1984 to 67 months in 1990.

Overall, the proportion of women offenders in prison because of drug 
offenses went from 12 percent in 1986 to 32.8 percent in 1991. In fact, 
the percentage increase in women sentenced to prison for drugs have been 
much greater than for men sentenced for drugs. For instance, between 
1987 and 1989 in the state of New York the number of women sentenced for 
drugs increased by 211 percent, compared to only an 82 percent increase 
for men. In Florida, during the 1980s admissions to prison for drugs 
increased by a whopping 1,825 percent; but for female offenders this 
increase was an astounding 3,103 percent!

Much of the increase in women prisoners comes from the impact of 
mandatory sentencing laws, passed during the 1980s crackdown on crime. 
Under many of these laws, mitigating circumstances (e.g., having 
children, few or no prior offenses, non-violent offenses) are rarely 
allowed. One recent survey found that just over half (51%) of women in 
state prisons had one or only one prior offense, compared to 39 percent 
of the male prisoners.

Thus, this society's recent efforts to "get tough" on crime has had a 
most negative impact on female offenders, as more and more are finding 
their way into the nation's prison system. As a matter of fact, largely 
because of the war on drugs, the number of new women's prisons has 
dramatically increased in recent years. Whereas between 1940 and the end 
of the 1960s only 12 new women's prisons were built, in the 1970s a 
total of 17 were built and 34 new prisons were built in the 1980s 
(latest figures available).

These increases do not match the increases in women's crime as measured 
by arrests, except if we consider the impact of the "war on drugs" along 
with greater attention to domestic violence. During this period of time 
there has been a very dramatic change in the criminal justice system's 
response to female drug use (as it has for all illegal drug use) as well 
as domestic violence. In the latter case, such increased attention to 
domestic violence has led to an increase in arrests of women for both 
aggravated assault and "other assaults."

The final part of this series will be devoted to an examination of the 
impact of the high incarceration rate of racial minorities on their 
families and communities.

Go to Part IV
The Impact on Black Families and Communities:

http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5755&sectionID=30 
<http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5755&sectionID=30>

https://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5756&sectionID=43 
<https://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5756&sectionID=43>


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