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The report by the Justice Policy Institute

From the Baltimore Sun
February 27, 2007

Mandatory drug terms are targeted in report Policy mostly harms blacks, it says; hearing today
By Kelly Brewington Sun reporter

African-Americans are disproportionately harmed by mandatory-minimum drug sentences, with blacks comprising nearly nine out of every 10 offenders sent to Maryland prisons on such terms, according to a report being released today by a Washington think tank.

The report by the Justice Policy Institute, a research organization that supports alternatives to prison, is to be discussed at a House of Delegates committee hearing today. The committee is considering a bill that would repeal some of the state's mandatory-minimum sentencing laws.

The study urges moving toward a model that offers treatment over incarceration. It notes that despite the racial disparity in sentencing, blacks and whites use drugs at similar rates.

Maryland elected officials have acknowledged that drug use is a public health problem, and, as a result, the state has offered more treatment options to low-level offenders, said Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute.

"But what we need now is the will to change these laws," he said.

The proposed legislation seeks to allow judges discretion in sentencing repeat offenders who commit certain drug crimes. Repealing the minimum-sentencing laws would allow judges to require treatment, particularly in the case of a low-level dealer who sells drugs to support an addiction, said Del. Curtis S. Anderson, a Baltimore Democrat who commissioned the report and sponsored the bill.

"Over the years, even though we have tried to get tough on drugs, we have not made a dent in people using drugs," said Anderson. "We have locked up more people, made the sentences harsher, but we haven't cut down on the problem at all. Maybe it's time to try something different."

The bill would repeal the mandatory-minimum 10-year sentence for a second-time offender or conspirator in specific drug crimes. But, it would not affect those convicted as "volume dealers," or kingpins, Anderson said.

He said other states have made such reforms, resulting in a decrease in incarceration costs.

From a public safety perspective, Ziedenberg said, mandatory minimums have not made communities safer.

Despite an overall decline in homicides since the 1990s, the homicide rate for African-Americans is nine times higher than that for whites, he said.

Maryland lawmakers have proposed similar legislation in previous years, including bills last year in the House and the Senate. But neither proposal made it out of committee.

It is unclear whether the measure has a chance this session. Some on the Judiciary Committee, where it will be heard today, have voiced concerns.

"Jail time, to me, should clearly be a deterrent to crime," said Del. Donald H. Dwyer, an Anne Arundel County Republican. "I personally do not support the idea that treatment alone is the answer. Many of the individuals who are involved in drug crimes are not only committing drug crimes, but they are also involved in breaking-and-enterings and theft. You still have victims who will suffer."

Still, those who have been fighting to reform sentencing laws say attitudes are changing. Kurt L. Schmoke, a former three-term Baltimore mayor, sparked a national debate on drug policy when in 1988 he called drug addiction a public health problem and advocated decriminalizing drugs.

Today, public opinion has become more receptive, said Schmoke, who submitted testimony supporting the bill.

Two years ago, Schmoke launched the National African American Drug Policy Coalition, a group of about a dozen black professional organizations working to reform U.S. sentencing laws.

"We try to explain to people that certain laws that look neutral on their face are certainly having a disproportionate impact on communities of color," said Schmoke, dean of the Howard University School of Law.

"It is totally destructive of family formation and community stability," he said. "And it's not just the drugs, it's the impact of the criminal justice system."

kelly.brewington@baltsun.com
Copyright (c) 2007, The Baltimore Sun.

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 27, 2006

Contact: Gina Wood
Metropolitan Group
202-380-3122 or
803-240-7509
gwood@metgroup.com

The Nation's Top Black Professionals Raise Issues and Concerns About National Drug Policies and Their Impact on African Americans

Coalition Seeks Solutions to Inequitable Drug Policies

HOUSTON, TX - (January 27, 2006) - Today members of a Blue Ribbon Commission convened by the National African American Drug Policy Coalition held public hearings to investigate and develop recommendations on the racial disparities in substance abuse policies across the nation. The commission heard testimony from black professionals including judges, medical professionals, social workers, law and criminal justice professionals and others. The information gathered in the hearings will serve to develop a set of recommendations that the NAADPC will issue in the spring.

Houston area policymakers, clergy, attorneys, and other professionals provided compelling testimony on the extent to which race is a factor in the execution of alcohol and illegal drugs law enforcement, prevention and treatment policies; if substance abuse laws and policies negatively impact the delivery of health, social and legal services for African Americans; and how laws and policies can ensure the availability of quality and equitable substance abuse treatment and prevention to African Americans.

In response to the testimony, which detailed multiple instances of inequitable and damaging treatment of African Americans facing drug charges, the Honorable Lee P. Brown, chair of the Commission said, "No longer is it acceptable to allow racial disparities to impair the health and well-being of African Americans. The Coalition is committed to aggressively promoting more effective policies and practices to address drug abuse and addiction."

A recent study conducted by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, states that "disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. are over-represented in the criminal justice system, primarily linked to drug offenses. The use of incarceration for drug control has had significant effects on the health and well being of these minority communities." This fact, among many others spurred the National Bar Association (NBA) to launch this historic initiative and to change the United States' drug policies and laws in 2003. Paramount to its strategy, then President of the NBA, Clyde Bailey, called a group of like-minded African American professional organizations to join with them in a coordinated nationwide effort to advocate for drug policies and laws that take into account drug abuse as a public health issue, among other factors.

Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and based at the Howard University School of Law, the NAADPC now consists of 23 organizations with a total membership of 255,000. Each coalition member organization contributes its professional expertise toward eradicating the negative societal effects of drug abuse, particularly in the African American community. The desired outcomes of the coalition's efforts are to protect the nation's children from drug use, reduce crime and improve public safety and order, enhance public health, and promote the wise and efficient use of scarce public resources.

Kurt L. Schmoke, Dean of the Howard Law School and Co-Chair of the NAADPC, said, "This Coalition is the most broad-based group I have ever seen. I hope that it will move drug control policy in a more constructive direction, especially as it relates to people of color. A major effort will focus on pretrial diversion and where sentencing is necessary, on therapeutic sentencing where we will educate and train judges to provide sentences to drug offenders that will make them better people coming out of prison than they were going in.""The professionals who came forward today have our great thanks and respect," said Judge Arthur L. Burnett, J.D., National Executive Director, NAADPC. "With their thoughtful testimony we will be able to develop far reaching recommendations that will embrace the public health nature of drug abuse and provide a more effective and humane approach to address the chronic societal problem of drug abuse."

The National African American Drug Policy Coalition is comprised of pre-eminent African American professional organizations who share a common cause of promoting drug policies and laws that embrace the public health nature of drug abuse and urge a more effective and humane approach to addressing the chronic societal problems associated with drug abuse. The NAADPC receives financial support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For more information about NAADPC, visit www.naadpc.org.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. Helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need-the Foundation expects to make a difference in our lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.