Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
An African-American man is nearly 12 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison on drug charges.
A black woman is nearly five times more likely than a white woman to be imprisoned on drug charges.
The American criminal justice system is rife with racial disparities such a these, according to a report from the Human Rights Watch. But the fight against methamphetamine in Iowa in recent years is thought to be behind a spike in the number of whites imprisoned on drug charges and a decrease in blacks imprisoned on drug offenses, according to the report.“It suggests that law enforcement was increasing its attention to meth and less to other types of drugs … Meth is a ‘by whites, for whites’ drug,’” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel and author of the report, titled “Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States.”
The report used data from 34 states’ prison admissions. In Iowa, blacks are 7.7 times more likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses than whites, according to the report released last month. In 1996, the figure was 29.2. According to the report, the rates of drug use nationally is comparable among whites and blacks.
Wisconsin leads the nation for the highest racial disparity in drug sentencing. Blacks in Wisconsin are more than 42 times more likely than whites to be imprisoned for drug offenses. The rate in Illinois was 23.6, according to the report.
Fellner said the study did not assess each state’s data individually. She said the data from Iowa was unusual, and Iowa is one of the few states where the black-to-white ratio decreased.
According to the report:
* As a percentage of all prison admissions (per 100,000 people), whites imprisoned for drug offenses increased 126.8 percent, from 12.9 in 1996 to 29.3 in 2003. Blacks imprisoned for drug offenses accounted for a decrease of 40.6 percent, from 377 in 1996 to 224.3 in 2003.
* Even so, the disparities hit black men the hardest. In 2003, by race and gender, white males accounted for 53.7 of drug offenders per 100,000 who were imprisoned, with white females at 6.4. Black males accounted for 402.7, with black females at 28.8.
* Nationally, drug offenses accounted for 25 percent of whites sent to prison in 1996, and 25.4 percent in 2003. For blacks, drug offenses accounted for 36.8 percent in 1996 and 38.2 percent in 2003, according to the report.
Reasons the disparities might exist include prosecutorial discretion, an offender’s inability to afford a private attorney and his or her prior criminal record, the report found.
To reduce the disparities, the studies suggest eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders and increasing community-based alternatives to prison and substance abuse treatment programs, among other things.
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