Let's stick with drug possession. Up until 2007, first time conviction on possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine, a drug supposedly used predominantly by black

Let's stick with drug possession. Up until 2007, first time conviction on possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine, a drug supposedly used predominantly by blacks (supposedly, but not really), would result in a mandatory sentencing of 5 years [1]. If you were lucky and got caught with powder cocaine instead, you would have to have 500 grams in your possession to suffer a similar fate. This was the 100 to 1 sentencing disparity that was reduced to 18:1 in 2010 [2]. That's not all. Roughly 80% of those convicted for possession of crack cocaine are black, only 10% are white [3][4]. Yet crack cocaine usage within both races is about the same [5]. If you analyse conviction rates vs use for different classes (rich vs poor), I bet you'll find similarly outrageous numbers. 1. http://famm.org/Repository/Files/FS%20Brief%20History%20of%20Crack%20Laws%204.13.12.pdf http://famm.org/Repository/Files/FS%20Brief%20History%20of%2... 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Sentencing_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Sentencing_Act 3. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/08/03/data-show-racial-disparity-in-crack-sentencing http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/08/03/data-show-rac... 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/racial-disparity-drug-use_n_3941346.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/17/racial-disparity-dr... 5. http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/quicktables/quickconfig.do?34481-0001_all http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/quicktables/quickconfig.do?34481-...