African-Americans Receive Longer Jail Sentences

African-Americans Receive Longer Jail Sentences

Why do African-Americans convicted of crimes get longer jail sentences as a general rule? This paper will address that question through use of several sources. But there are other disparities in terms of race and punishment, and those will be reviewed as well.

First of all, according to journalist David Doege (writing in the online version of the Wisconsin Journal) African-Americans convicted of trafficking in drugs in Wisconsin "are more likely to wind up in prison" than Caucasian drug dealers (Doege, 2007). Compared with whites, blacks "…are nearly twice as likely to end up behind bars for dealing drugs," according to a report by the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission. Among non-drug offenses, the report shows, blacks are "about 1.5 times as likely as whites to go to prison" (Doege, 2007). And regarding "less-serious Class E drug offenses" 61% of blacks were imprisoned "compared with 30% of whites sentenced" (Doege, 2007).

Meantime, as to the length of time African-Americans are sentenced compared with the jail sentences of whites, when looking at the issue of crack cocaine violations there are some possible answers as to why blacks are sentenced to longer prison terms than whites. For example crack cocaine is "usually sold in small quantities…often sold in open-air markets which are especially prone to violence," according to the "Sentencing Project" report. Federal sentencing laws in 1986 and 1988 created much stiffer penalties for crack cocaine than for powder cocaine; "crack users and dealers receive much harsher penalties than users and dealers of powder cocaine," the Sentencing Project's report concludes.

And so, the seller of powder cocaine gets a five-year sentence for 500 or more grams, while the seller of crack gets five years for possessing 5 grams. And crack is the only drug, the Sentencing Project continues, that carries a "mandatory prison sentence for first offense possession." About two-thirds of crack users are white or Hispanic, but defendants convicted of crack possession / sales in 1994 were "84.5% black, 10.3% white and 5.2% Hispanic." Why are so many blacks busted for selling crack? "Blacks are more likely to engage in open-air sales to strangers" while whites tend to sell drugs inside buildings, according to "Sociological Images" research. Selling in public obviously can result in an arrest far easier than selling in a dorm, or a bar, or a workplace, as whites tend to do. Police can stop a black man on the street and frisk him without a warrant. And so if African-Americans are far more likely to be selling crack in the open air, and crack sales result in far longer jail sentences than powder cocaine sales, there is at least part of the answer as to why African-Americans serve longer sentences in some cases.

A Washington Post analysis of 79,000 federal sentences between the years 1993 and 1995 (referenced in Jet Magazine) reflects that "Blacks received 2% longer jail terms than whites" nationally, and in the District of Columbia Blacks received sentences that were 12% longer than whites (Jet Magazine).