Minorities More Likely to Be Jailed for Drug Dealing

Black and Asian men are more likely to be jailed for drug dealing offences in England and Wales than white men, a study of 14,000 people suggests. The Sentencing Council looked at the penalties received by defendants aged 26-50 for possession with intent to supply from April 2012 to March 2015. Its analysis also found men were more likely to be jailed than women. The council said it was seeking views on whether its sentencing guidelines could lead to discrimination.

Its study found that for possession with intent to supply a class B drug, 37% of white offenders would be expected to receive an immediate custodial sentence, compared with 46% of Asian, 44% of black and 46% of Chinese and other ethnicities. For a class A substance, around 93% of white offenders, 95% of Asian offenders and 95% of black offenders would be expected to be jailed. The length of sentence also differed, with Asian offenders being jailed for an average of 4% longer, equal to around one month extra, than white counterparts. Black and other ethnicity offenders did not have statistically different sentence lengths to white offenders. The researchers also compared men and women and found 37% of men would be expected to be jailed for possession with intent to supply a class B drug, compared with 20% of women.

Read more: BBC News, https://is.gd/3bCHyL