Do torture – Make a $M selling books.

The Bush Torture Team

The New York Times has an interesting article today on the rise of arrests in America of people under the age of 24.  Referencing a study done by the National Longitudinal Surveys (U.S. Department of Labor), the NYT article noted that: 

By age 23, almost a third of Americans have been arrested for a crime, according to a new study that researchers say is a measure of growing exposure to the criminal justice system in everyday life.  

The study, the first since the 1960s to look at the arrest histories of a national sample of adolescents and young adults over time, found that 30.2 percent of the 23-year-olds who participated reported having been arrested for an offense other than a minor traffic violation.  

That figure is significantly higher than the 22 percent found in a 1965 study that examined the same issue using different methods.

The article went on to say: 

The increase may be a reflection of the justice system becoming more punitive and more aggressive in its reach during the last half-century, the researchers said. Arrests for drug-related offenses, for example, have become far more common... 

It is interesting to note that drug arrests have increased while at the same time the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reports that drug usage by teens has decreased.  In a report issued earlier this year, the DEA stated that “700,000 fewer teenagers used illicit drugs last year than a decade earlier, a 16 percent decline.” 

More importantly, Human Rights Watch reports that drug arrests continue to be skewed by race: 

Blacks have been arrested nationwide on drug charges at higher rates than whites for nearly three decades, even though they engage in drug offenses at comparable rates, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.  Using data obtained from the FBI, the report reveals the extent and persistence of racial disparities in US drug-law enforcement. The data also show that most drug arrests are for nothing more serious than possession.

The 20-page report, "Decades of Disparity: Drug Arrests and Race in the United States,"  says that adult African Americans were arrested on drug charges at rates that were 2.8 to 5.5 times as high as those of white adults in every year from 1980 through 2007, the last year for which complete data were available. About one in three of the more than 25.4 million adult drug arrestees during that period was African American. 

What these reports tell us is that fewer teens and young adults are using illicit drugs, yet many more are being arrested.  Furthermore, a highly disproportionate number of those arrested are African Americans. 

At the same time, government officials and Wall Street fat cats are getting away with far more serious "real" crimes. 

It has been proven that government officials have authorized torture, suspension of habeas corpus, illegal detention and warrentless surveillance.  However, none of them have been impeached or prosecuted for any of their criminal offenses. 

This inequality of justice extends beyond government officials and into the top corporate leadership of our country.  How many Wall Street executives have been arrested for committing the bank fraud that brought down our economy and pushed millions into poverty?

None!     

Will there ever be “Equal Justice for All” in this country?