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VIII. Conclusion

The racial disparities in incarceration generated by drug control strategies raise deeply troubling questions. Why are white drug users and sellers comparatively free of arrest and incarceration for their illegal activity? Why has the United States continued to address illicit drugs primarily with a punitive criminal justice approach, including harsh prison sentences? Why has the country been willing to impose the burden of incarceration for drug offenses primarily on those who by virtue of race and poverty are already among the most marginalized in society and the most politically powerless?¹²³

We cannot answer those questions. But we do know that the racial disparities we have documented in this report violate fundamental principles of justice and equal protection of the law. They undermine faith among all races and ethnic groups in the fairness and efficacy of the US criminal justice system.¹²⁴ They are particularly intolerable because incarceration has such grave implications for the offenders’ lives and those of their families and communities.

It is difficult to overstate the harshness of a prison sentence and its enduring consequences. Prisons are tense, overcrowded, dangerous, and barren places in which it may be difficult to maintain one’s emotional equilibrium and self-respect, much less turn a life around. Prison education, vocational, and substance abuse programs are minimal. Incarceration leaves families without breadwinners,¹²⁵ children without parents.¹²⁶ Even after release from prison, the consequences of incarceration continue, reflected in wrecked families, troubled children, diminished opportunities for jobs and economic advancement, problems finding housing, and political disenfranchisement.¹²⁷ Spending time in prison may increase the likelihood of recidivism.¹²⁸ High rates of incarceration in particular communities may deplete the human and social capital of already disadvantaged neighborhoods, diminishing opportunities for social and economic mobility and even contributing to ongoing cycles of crime.¹²⁹

The United States can and must devise ways to make its drug control policies less destructive to black communities in general, and black males in particular. There is no justification for levying the burdens of incarceration and its aftermath disproportionately on black drug offenders. The statistics presented in this report reflect the persistent failure of the United States to ensure that its efforts to reduce illicit drug use and sales are conducted within a framework of respect for human rights.