Skip to main content

The Drug War Sends White People Into Treatment, While Black People Get Felonies

Submitted by smorgan on
This Cleveland Plain-Dealer story just completely blows the lid off the inherent racism of the war on drugs. Reporter Bob Paynter pulled out all the stops, digging through court records to demonstrate how people of color receive harsher punishments than white defendants for the same drug crimes.

This is superb reporting, a rare find when it comes to criminal justice issues. Reporters across the nation should repeat Paynter’s methodology. Racial disparities are endemic to the war on drugs and you will find them everywhere. All you have to do is look.

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.