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Black Crime Essay

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Congress was more concerned with marijuana use and heroin use, but that changed as the media continued to report on “black crime” and its link to crack cocaine. Soon cocaine specifically crack became the focal point of Congress legislation. The image of cocaine had shifted from the glamorous and wealthy to the violent inner-city gang banger.
Len Bias was perceived as a crack cocaine overdose user an a up and coming NBA draft pick led to the most punitive anti-drug legislation passed and also expedited the process. The death of Bias, a clean cut African-American kid from a good family future shifted the public image of cocaine from glamorous and wealthy to the inner-city violence and African-Americans.
Anti-drug Abuse Act of 1988 enacted mandatory …show more content…
One hearing was more sympathetic to the problems and issues surrounding mandatory minimums, while the other has more hostile. The 100:1 disparity is felt almost exclusively by African-Americans. 88.3% of federal convictions for crack distribution were Black. It not only affects offenders, but the family of those offenders as well. It also creates a “norm” in the mind of others regarding African-American males. These people make their judgment on criminality by the shown number of who is arrested and do not understand the nuances of the disparity at …show more content…
Efforts have not been made to reduce cocaine sentencing. Methamphetamine as “Epidemic” focused as a “white drug”, also had mandatory minimum sentences to try to be “fair” in sentencing policies. However, since then efforts have been made to reduce Meth sentencing. Black men are 6 times more likely than white men to be incarcerated. At the end of 2001, 16.5% of black males had been to prison compared to 7.7% of Hispanic and 2.7 of white males. The same reports contributes the steady rise of incarceration rates since the 90’s to harsher punishment for repeat offenders and crack

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