The Sentencing Project


                         Report Summary


     YOUNG BLACK AMERICANS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM:
                        FIVE YEARS LATER

By Marc Mauer and Tracy Huling, October, 1995
The Sentencing Project
918 F St., N.W., Suite 501
Washington, DC  20004


In 1990, The Sentencing Project issued a report ("Young Black Men and
the Criminal Justice System:  A Growing National Problem") that
documented that almost one in four African American males in the age
group 20-29 was under some form of criminal justice supervision.  A
new five-year follow-up study contains the following highlights:

Race, Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System

    ~ Nearly one in three (32.2%) African American males in the age
group 20-29 --827,440 -- is under criminal justice supervision on
any given day -- in prison or jail, on probation or parole.

    ~ African American women have experienced the greatest increase
in their rate of criminal justice control of all demographic groups
in recent years, increasing by 78% from 1989 to 1994.

    ~ The proportion of Hispanics in the state and federal prisons
doubled from 1980 to 1993, rising from 7.7% of all inmates to 14.3%.

Drug Policies and Racial Disparities

    ~ Drug offenders represented the largest proportional growth of
inmates nationally in recent years, increasing by 510% from an
estimated 57,975 in 1983 to 353,564 in 1993.

    ~ While African Americans constitute 13% of all monthly drug
users, they represent 35% of arrests for drug possession, 55% of
convictions and 74% of prison sentences.

    ~ The number of black (non-Hispanic) women incarcerated for drug
offenses in state prisons increased by 828% from 1986 to 1991.

Recommendations

    ~ Revise national drug spending priorities to offer treatment to
the one million addicts who do not have access to treatment each
year.

    ~ Divert non-violent property offenders and minor drug offenders
to structured alternatives to incarceration.

    ~ Eliminate mandatory sentencing and other sentencing policies
that have had a disproportionate impact on women and minorities.


The full report, "Young Black Americans and the Criminal Justice
System:  Five Years Later," is available for $8 from The Sentencing
Project, 918 F St. NW, Suite 501, Washington, D.C. 20004; (202)
628-0871.

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918 F St., N.W.      ~  Suite 501      ~  Washington, D.C. 20004
~  (202) 628-0871      ~ FAX (202) 628-1091