Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
I'd be curious to hear some views on that specific point - particularly from the folks in law enforcement. I'm thinking about lower class, black teens who grow up in the ghetto, who seem to identify themselves as members of a class that is oppressed by the government - particularly the law enforcement personnel. Because their identity is in large part based upon opposition to law enforcement, going to jail is a badge of honor. It is respectable to earn a living in a manner that is illegal or otherwise flaunts society's norms. Any law directed at their anti-social behavior is immediately viewed as a government reprisal against their way of life (for example, laws against possession of crack were argued to be biased against blacks rather than against crack possessors). Am I way off base with this?
There was some justification too the argument that "crack" laws were biased against blacks. This was based on the fact the punishment for an equal amount of crack to an equal amount of cocaine was disproportionately heavier for the crack possessor. Since crack was primarily used by urban black poor and cocaine was used by middle class whites and the addictive/physical damaging properties of both drugs are similar, there likely was a bias.
Reed