Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2001 Source: Greenville News (SC) Copyright: 2001 The Greenville News Contact: http://greenvillenews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/877 Author: Ethel W Piper Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1350/a05.html Cited: Police Executive Research Forum http://www.policeforum.org/ The Sentencing Project http://www.sentencingproject.org/ RACIALLY BIASED JUSTICE NEEDS EXAMINING Roger Owens, president of Save Our Sons, was right on target in his July 26 article calling for an in-depth study of the startling difference in white and minority incarceration rates. In Greenville County, minority men make up about 10 percent of the general population, but 58 percent of our prison population (1997 figures from South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs). If we understood and addressed the problems indicated by this statistic, we would provide needed services, save a lot of broken lives and reduce tax dollars spent on prisons. A crucial question which Owens raises is the extent to which the factors are not social but result from unfairness in the justice system. The recent case of a white driver who hit a black pedestrian in Clemson does not add to one's confidence in colorblind justice. It is encouraging that nationally, the Police Executive Research Forum recognizes the problem at the police level, calls it "racially biased policing" and, in a report, makes nearly 50 recommendations to help police departments to address it. Police departments which pretend that the problem does not exist now lose credibility daily. The Sentencing Project reports: African-Americans make up 13 percent of drug users, 35 percent of those arrested for possession, 55 percent of those convicted for possession and 74 percent of those imprisoned for possession. The problem does not stop with the police. It is past time to start addressing "racially biased" prosecution and sentencing. Ethel W. Piper, Landrum - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake