Why are blacks four times more likely as whites to be incarcerated for a drug crime even though...?

As the person above me shows, America is extremely racist.

It's kind of hard to explain It's not the only factor that plays a part. If you're a dark-skinned male around the age of 20 without a lot of money the law tends to be pretty harsh on you compared to, say, a middle-aged wealthy white woman, who can get away with just about anything. People tend to be scared of anyone who's on the young side, with dark skin, and male, while the money comes into it with the kind of defense you can afford.

Having said that, nothing is universal, if you look hard enough you can always find an exception to the rule, and from what I understand (I'll admit I don't keep up with the story much, because I'm sick to death of hearing about it at this point) it was the way the law was written that kept Zimmerman out of jail. I don't see racism playing a part in the verdict. People's opinions on the incident are another story altogether.

Did you even read the article you linked to? First page states: "Examining national data for 1979, criminologist Alfred Blumstein concluded that 80 percent of racial disparity could be explained by greater involvement in crime, although a subsequent study reduced this figure to 76 percent for the 1991 prison population."

If a particular child in school cheats on tests a lot, is the teacher racist for watching that child closely during tests?

It doesn't have to be explained by institutionalized racism unless that's your only perspective on the world in which we live. It could simply be that police patrol high crime rate areas more than low crime rate areas, and that results in a disproportionate number of arrests of people who reside in high crime rate areas.

Nature vs Nurture?

This is just an assumption for I haven't done the research, but maybe there are more poor blacks than whites living in the ghettos of America. The ghetto has a lot of drug abuse which makes them easy targets for the crime. It's all merely speculation though. It could just be racism.

Actually your entire assumption is wrong.

The Reason that blacks are more likely to be incarcerated for drug use isn't got anything to do with the fact they assume more blacks do drugs than white. it's because blacks commit more crime than white or Latino's.

The Murder rates committed by Blacks is higher than Whites and Hispanics combined.

Blacks live in high crime areas with a greater police presence. The police don't patrol rich gated communities. And Zimmerman didn't get away with manslaughter, he utilized his right of self defense when attacked by a vicious thug. That's the official record and no amount of crying will change it, sorry.

Sources?

Do Blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population?

George Zimmerman Wasn't WHITE.

My WHITE son served time in prison for dealing crack and heroin.

Get off of the Black target gravy train!

In the words of "Baretta", Don't do the crime if you can't do the time!

LIB. tear dropper.

Ask any adult about teenage 17 to 19 year old males, "young, dumb and full of c**"!

No sense of life ending decisions, until their brain matures at the age of 25!

He brought it on, he lost.

END OF THE LIBERAL WHINING, 'CAUSE YINZ DIDN'T GET YOUR WAY!

Wow.. I thought the first question was okay, but then somehow you've managed to slip in that how many times do you beat your wife a day type question.

Good job!

Until then, I thought it was worth responding to, but underneath it all, I realize that I'd be wasting my time. :)

Because blacks use more common drugs in obvious places.. White people tend to use higher quality drugs such as cocaine, meth, ect. While Blacks tend to use weed, which is much more common and less expensive, than white people.. Marijuana is easier to catch in the transaction with less "security" and "caution". So they're just easier to catch, In my opinion atleast. Not as much racial slur in the system as you think, considering our president is black, many senators are black, mayor, judges, and high ranking officials.

Cops want to make arrests that will stick. Poor black people get the public defender - and jail. More white folks can afford a decent lawyer. That is pain for the cops.

I don't think the reason is as racist as you imply. I have a feeling that it might be because the blacks who get arrested for drug use are often arrested for OTHER things as well, have records, therefore have more searches and situations where they might be caught with drugs.

Police aren't going into people's houses and searching their dressers for pot.

Statistics can imply a lot of things that aren't true. This is one of them.