Studies: Wisconsin has highest racial disparity in drug sentences

Associated Press
05/06/2008

MILWAUKEE — Two new studies show Wisconsin has the highest racial disparity in the nation when it comes to sentences for drug convictions.

Blacks in the Badger State are 42 times more likely than whites to be sentenced to prison for drug convictions, according to studies by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In Minnesota, blacks are ten-times more likely to be sentenced, the report said. (Related: Read Full Report)

The Sentencing Project examines data from 43 of the nation's largest cities between 1980 and 2003. The Human Rights Watch study looks at racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison in 34 states.

According to the research, blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses at a rate at least 10 times that of whites in 16 states, with the disparity the greatest in Wisconsin.

Ratio of black/white rates of prison admissions for drug offenses, 2003. (Rates calculated per 1,000 residents of each race)

Source: National Corrections Reporting Program, 2003