African America Men being Sentenced for Drugs

Imagine that people around the country are being put in prison for crimes that they didn’t commit. Or facing a harsh sentence, only because the color of their skin. Well it happens everyday and it has been happening for a long time. The justice system was made to put minorities at a disadvantage. There's a history of a racially biased justice system in america. In the past black men and black teens were punished with sentences facing more than twenty years,for non-violent crimes. This countries system targets African Americans.Throwing them in jail for crimes they didn’t commit.Each year the incareration rates goes up. Leading to more people in jail, causing mass incarceration.

With all the news reports about police brutality. History has shown that police officers are racially biased. Which affects the way that they handle certain incidents with certain ethnicities. In traffic stops they will become more defensive and quicker to use unreasonable force. Causing violent confrontations leading to many unarmed black men killed. A news report in 2015 stated that 88 percent of police confrontations in Ferguson, Missouri involving police used uneccessary force on African-American suspects.

African american men who commit the same crime as white men in america. Are more 20 percent more likely to face more time in priaon. This would be sentence disparity. A form of unequal treatment, for an unexplained cause. It puts others at an unfair disadvantage in consequences. After the supreme courts decision in United States v. Booker case, federal judges have more of a choice on sentencing. Based on the given by the defendent or the facts proved by the jury. Which can be unfair, because it gives judges the right to hand out harsh sentences.

In 1986 the Anti-Drug Abuse act was passed. The congress began to establish much tougher sentencing for selling or usding drugs. This act affected the African American communities the most. Before the act was passed, the rate of African America men being sentenced for drugs was 11 percent higher then white men. After the act was passe the rate went up to 49 percent. At one point there were more African American men in jail than there were attending college. In 1993 19 year old black man named Ronald Evans, was sentenced to life in prison with out parole for selling heroin and cocaine. Before he was sentenced he never had trouble wirh law. Celestia Mixon a 21 year old white woman was sentenced to 15 years for selling meth and for having a firearm. She was an addict herself and begain selling to finance her addiction. For sometime she was in recovery, but she started using and selling again. She had two misdemeanors prior to her conviction. The judge considering her situation gave her the lowest sentence he could give her. In both incidents, both sold drugs. The one that was black got life in prison, even though it was his first time. The other got 15 years, even though she has been in trouble with the law before.

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