Drug Use, Drug Possession Arrests, and the Question of Race: Lessons from Seattle

Abstract

Many analysts have argued that the most harmful forms of drug use are disproportionately concentrated in poor communities of color, and that this pattern—combined with law enforcement's tendency to focus on outdoor drug activity—explains racial disparity in drug arrests. Others contend that comparatively high black and Latino drug arrest rates result from racial bias or racist intent on the part of the architects or lieutenants of the drug war. This article offers an alternative explanation of racial disparity in drug arrests in Seattle, Washington. Specifically, we argue that the racialization of imagery surrounding drugs in general and crack cocaine in particular had long-lasting institutional and cultural effects that continue to shape police perceptions and practices, and that these effects explain much of the disparity that characterizes drug possession in Seattle.