Mandatory crack sentencing drove explosive growth in the Black prison population

Evidence

By the 1980s the jobs disappeared, the most progressive African nations were as unstable as ever, and the Black prison population was growing by leaps and bounds thanks to mandatory sentencing policies for possession of crack cocaine. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 28

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prosecutorial charging discretion drove most of the prison population growth; US prison population exploded tenfold while remaining majority people of color