http://www.apbnews.com/newscenter/breakingnews/2000/11/15/drugwar1115_01.htmlAdvocate Group Raises Race Issue; D.A.s Disagree
Nov. 15, 2000
By James Gordon Meek
WASHINGTON
(APBnews.com) -- America has lost the war on drugs and should
surrender to
pleas for legalization and the release of those in jail for
drug offenses,
says the nation's largest association of defense attorneys.
A resolution
passed unanimously by over 50 officers who lead the National
Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) this week says the
government's crusade to
punish drug crimes is racist, unjust and unwinnable
and therefore should
cease.
Citing the government's own studies, the group said the criminal
justice
system has unfairly targeted blacks and other minorities who account
for a
disproportionate number of those arrested and locked up for nonviolent
drug
offenses.
Significantly higher percentages of blacks are
incarcerated than whites
when compared to the racial breakdown of the general
U.S. population,
Department of Justice statistics show.
Half
of all inmates black
Research by the Justice Department shows
that of the 14 million arrests
made for serious crimes last year, 70 percent
of those taken into police
custody were white and under 25 years of age.
Yet blacks made up 46 percent of the total prison population in 1999,
while
whites make up 33 percent and Hispanics 18 percent of those
jailed,
according to the Justice Department.
Private studies of
government data released in recent months suggest that
blacks are unfairly
targeted for drug arrests at rates much higher than
other races, even though
there is little research indicating blacks are
more likely to use drugs.
None of the parties are arguing over the accuracy of government
statistics.
Part of the controversy surrounds the interpretation of the data
on
imprisonment and arrests for blacks.
‘Ripe with
rhetoric' The NACDL called for the decriminalization of most
drug offenses and asked
for the immediate release of an estimated half
million people now behind
bars for nonviolent drug crimes.
Camden
County, N.J., prosecutor Lee Solomon scoffed at the
organization's
pronouncement that the high rate of detention for blacks is
somehow
racially motivated.
"That argument is ripe with rhetoric, and
I'm always doubtful of the
veracity of that kind of rhetoric," he said.
Solomon heads the subcommittee on drug enforcement for the
National
District Attorneys Association and said the NACDL is itself racist,
as
evidenced by its failure to consider the victims of drug crimes.
"A disproportionate number of victims are people of color," he
said.
"Failure to incarcerate the perpetrators would likewise be racist."
Black market in drugs
Seattle defense lawyer
Fred Leatherman, a board member of the NACDL, said
most drug crimes are
victimless -- except for the victimization of drug
offenders who get jail
time instead of addiction counseling.
He acknowledged the legal group's
demands are not likely to be met anytime
soon, but he insisted that
traditional strategies aimed at stemming drug
sales and illicit use have
failed. The answer to the country's drug problem
is to remove the financial
incentive from dope pushers through legalization
of hard drugs, he said.
"Because we've made drugs illegal, there's a huge black market,"
said
Leatherman, who drafted the NACDL resolution. "I think the easiest way
to
get rid of the black market is to legalize drugs and make them available."
Treatment for offenders The other part of the
solution is to help drug addicts get clean,
Leatherman said, and that
includes those who are now in jails and prisons.
Taxpayers foot the
hefty price for incarceration, and the alternative --
treatment -- would cost
a lot less, he said.
Solomon agreed that the criminal justice system
would benefit from more
treatment programs, "but not to the exclusion of
punishment."
America's growing success in the drug war has contributed
to the nation's
eight-year drop in serious crime, he argued. Law enforcement
should
continue to aggressively attack the drug problem everywhere and
against
everyone involved in it, "regardless of race and regardless of sex,"
he said.
White House cites success White House
drug office spokeswoman Jennifer De Vallance said the nation's
drug
enforcement has cut illegal activity in recent years.
"It's dangerous to
say we should stop the government's efforts," she said.
The outgoing
drug czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, bristles at terminology
describing those
efforts as a "drug war," she added.
"When you talk about it in terms of
war, it sounds like it has a mission
and objectives," De Vallance said. "It
is a cancer that needs monitoring."
James Gordon Meek is an
APBnews.com editor in Washington
(
james.meek@apbnews.com).