At yearend 2004 there were 3,218 black male sentenced prison inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared
to 1,220 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 463 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.
The "work-experience unemployment rate" for blacks, 12.1 percent, was higher than the rate for either Hispanics (10.5 percent) or whites (7.6 percent). Men had higher rates than did women in each of these three groups, but this was especially
true among blacks. The "work-experience unemployment rate" for black men (14.0 percent) was much higher than that for black women (10.5 percent).
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Black men were the only major group for whom the "work-experience unemployment rate" increased from 1999 to 2000.
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Blacks are arrested for marijuana possession at a two and a half times greater rate than whites, according to a new study published by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
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Blacks make up 8 percent of Seattle's population and only 6 percent to 7 percent of drug users in King County, but they account for 57 percent of adult drug arrests, according to a study released yesterday.
The six-month study of 1999 arrests, conducted by graduate-student researchers at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, suggests two key reasons for the racial disparity:
Police place greater emphasis on curbing low-level drug sales in open-air markets downtown than in outlying neighborhoods.
Sellers, rather than predominantly white buyers, have been the focus of frequent undercover "buy busts."
The researchers, for example, interviewed drug-treatment professionals who reported that the majority of heroin users in King County were white. That conclusion was supported by records from the county's Medical Examiner's Office, which showed that during 1997-99, 83 percent of the people suffering heroin overdoses were white.
Yet in 1999, 54 percent of heroin-related convictions involved African-Americans, the study found.
"It's white guys in their 30s who are dying, but it's black guys who are going to jail," Ron Green, an area drug-treatment provider, told the researchers.
In each of the last two years, Seattle police reported making about 4,000 drug arrests. The study used a sample of slightly more than 3,000 drug arrests in Seattle made in 1999. Of those, 1,711 were black, 1,167 were white or Hispanic, 91 were Asian, and 49 were Native American.
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In Maryland, a state survey of police traffic stops—ordered by the state court in response to state troopers' use of racial profiling—found that from January 1995 through December 1997, 70 percent of the drivers stopped on Interstate 95 were African
Americans. According to an ACLU survey conducted around that time, only 17.5 percent of the traffic and speeders on that road were African American.
Source: Cole, David, No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System (New York: The New Press, 1999), p. 36.
In his book No Equal Justice, Georgetown Law Professor David Cole notes "A Lexis review of all federal court decisions from January 1, 1990, to August 2, 1995, in which drug-courier profiles were used and the race of the suspect was discernible revealed that of sixty-three such cases, all but three suspects were minorities: thirty-four were black, twenty-five were Hispanic, one was Asian, and three were white." Source: Cole, David, No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System (New York: The New Press, 1999), p. 50.
In Montgomery County, MD in 2001, “Blacks drivers were about three times as likely as whites to be asked if their vehicles could be searched. Of 450 searches, 197, or 43.8 percent, were of black drivers; 150 were of whites; and 78 were Hispanics.”
Source: Phuong, Ly, “Montgomery Traffic Data Show Race Disparity” Washington Post, Friday, November 2, 2001
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Charging that the war on drugs has been waged disproportionately against blacks, Human Rights Watch today will release a report showing that 482 of every 100,000 African American men are in prison for a drug crime, compared with just 36 of every 100,000 white men.
The study, titled "Punishment and Prejudice," also found that blacks make up 62% of the nation's imprisoned drug offenders, despite accounting for just 13% of the population. In half a dozen states, the disparity is even greater, with blacks comprising 80% to 90% of all drug convicts behind bars. In every state, they are more likely than white men to be incarcerated for such crimes--from North Dakota, where the odds are double, to Illinois, where the ratio is 57 to 1.
Illinois topped the list, with 1,146 of every 100,000 black men (compared with just 20 of every 100,000 white men) in prison for a drug offense. Ohio followed, with a rate of 968, then Kentucky, at 869. The report compared those numbers with the
rates for white men and ranked the states according to the degree of racial disparity. Illinois again led, with blacks 57 times more likely than whites to be incarcerated for drug crimes. Wisconsin followed, with a 54-to-1 ratio, then Minnesota, at 39 to 1.
California's per capita rate for black drug offenders--669 of every 100,000--was the nation's seventh highest. But because California's total black population is smaller than that of many Southern and Northeastern states, the disparity with whites was among the lowest; even so, African American drug offenders here are five times more likely than whites to land in prison.
States in which blacks comprise the highest percentage of imprisoned drug offenders:
1. Maryland: 90%
2. Illinois: 90%
3. South Carolina: 86%
4. North Carolina: 84%
5. Louisiana: 82%
California: 30%
U.S. average: 62%
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Blacks who bought homes in communities across America last year were four times as likely as whites to get charged high interest rates for mortgage loans, according to a Charlotte Observer analysis of records from 25 of the nation's largest lenders.
Even blacks with incomes above $100,000 a year paid high rates more often than whites with incomes below $40,000.
For decades, African Americans struggled to get loans at any price. Lenders ignored entire black neighborhoods, a practice called redlining.
Last year, the nation's 10 largest banks denied black applicants twice as often as whites. And on average they made only 5 percent of their home loans to blacks.
A new group of companies has filled the void. These "subprime" lenders, companies such as Ameriquest and New Century, charge higher interest rates than banks.
The result: In 2004, blacks received twice as many home purchase loans as a decade ago.
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In 1992, black men with professional degrees earned 79% of the salaries of white men holding jobs at comparable levels. Black women with professional degrees earned 60% of the salaries of white men at comparable levels.
In 1992, 90% of black female professionals held jobs in the government sector, suggesting there are limited opportunities in the private sector for this population.
In 1990, an Urban Institute study comparing pairs of black and white job applicants with identical credentials found that 'unequal treatment of black job seekers was entrenched and widespread, contradicting claims that hiring practices today either favor Blacks or are effectively color blind.'
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According to 1998 U.S. Department of Labor statistics, blacks are almost twice as likely as whites to be unemployed. The unemployment rate is also higher for Latinos than for whites. Blacks and Latinos generally earn far less than whites.
In 2000, the median weekly earning for blacks was $459; for Latinos, it was $395. In that period, average income for whites was $590. Workers of color are still concentrat*ed in the less well-paying, unskilled sector. In 1993, black and Latino men were half as likely as whites to be employed as man*agers or professionals and much more like*ly to be employed as machine operators and laborers.
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