Policymakers, courts, and sentencing reforms together produced racialized drug enforcement.

Evidence

In summary, the rise in drug arrests and imprisonment and the increase in racial disparities in these drug sanctions between 1980 and the mid-2000s are predominantly attributable to changes in law enforcement philosophy, policy, and practice. Policymakers called for the expanded use of the CJS and more punitive sanctions to combat drugs and drug-related problems. Policymakers adopted laws aimed at meeting these goals and allocated considerable resources to support drug law enforcement. The courts further facilitated these goals by expanding police discretionary powers. Sentencing reforms adopted before and during the War on Drugs that created structured sentencing systems with enhanced punitiveness toward drug offenses gave prosecutors the tools they needed to push the number of drug offenders convicted and imprisoned for felony drug offenses dramatically higher. The research conducted in this period demonstrates that the discretionary powers granted to police and prosecutors were not applied in a race-neutral fashion. Instead, a disproportionate amount of law enforcement attention was paid to Black drug offenders and predominantly Black neighborhoods and drugs associated with both. The end result was a steep rise in drug sanctions and greater racial imbalance in drug sanctions. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1070

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the earlier chapter’s finding that police discretion in stop-and-frisk was applied disproportionately to Black offenders, now extending that logic to the prosecutorial stage.