Measured drug-use data contradict both the offending-explanation and the equal-offending counterclaim

Evidence

The most obvious potential explanation of the noted race differences in drug sanctions is race differences in drug offending. That is, African Americans’ higher rates of drug arrests and imprisonment may be attributable to their higher rates of involvement in drug use and drug distribution in comparison to those of Whites. The existing data are largely at odds with this potential explanation; yet, the data also contradict the frequently asserted counterclaim that Whites and Blacks commit drug offenses at the same rate. There are two relatively long data series measuring the extent of drug use in the United States. The first, Monitoring the Future survey (“MTF”) has measured drug use among high school seniors annually since 1979. The second data series has changed names and methodology over time, but it is currently called “the National Survey on Drug Use and Health” (“NSDUH”); it measures drug use among those aged twelve and over, living in households. The difference in the age range of those surveyed in the two series is highly salient, as drug use is much more common among adolescents than adults and race differences in drug use vary by age. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1052

Categorization

• XREF: Analogous to the conviction-vs-measured-bias theme: the simplest behavioral explanation for disparate sanctions turns out not to fit the data.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1052