Fifty Years of Drug Arrests: Crime Control or Oppression? (Session 1)

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

National prison trends suggest the great American incarceration binge of the 20th century was heavily impacted by the enforcement of drug laws and by mandatory sentencing, but prosecution and incarceration begin with arrest. Each presentation listed below focuses on black and white drug arrests in a single city. Each starts with historical patterns of black and white drug arrests and explores the research or lack of research generated by the over-representation of black suspects in arrests for drug offenses. For cities in which the racial distribution of drug arrests has been studied, the discussion describes the work done, conclusions reached, and notes caveats and sticky issues. Discussions include evaluations of work done and suggestions for what it would take to reduce arrests. For cities in which black and white drug arrest patterns have been little studied, discussions explore possible reasons for the lack of study and consider the kinds of research needed to clarify or resolve the issue of black over arrest.

Sub Unit

• Area IV. Criminal Justice Policy and Practice / 39. Policing and Law Enforcement

Individual Presentations

• Re-Branding the War on Drugs: Three Decades of Race, Drugs and Street Policing in New York - Jeffrey Fagan, Columbia Law School

• Black and White Drug Arrests in Chicago: Integrating the Selective Aspects of Arrests for Gambling, Prostitution, and Drug Law Violation - Roland Chilton, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Wenona Rymond-Richmond, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

• Differential drug involvement or differential enforcement? Explaining racial disparities in drug arrests - Shytierra Gaston, University of Missouri - St. Louis; Sherri Schaefer, University of Missouri - St. Louis; Kristina Linden, University of Missouri - St. Louis; Richard Rosenfeld, University of Missouri - St. Louis

Chair

• Richard Rosenfeld, University of Missouri - St. Louis

Discussant

• David Frank Greenberg, New York University