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8 Ways Caucasian People’s Implicit Racial Biases Continue to Oppress Black People

Posted byBy Taylor Gordon | Published on: | Updated on March 21, 2015 CommentsComments (0)

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Black People Still More Likely to Go to Jail for Illegal Drugs

As the recent string of tragedies that led to the Black Lives Matter movement proved, Black people are more likely to be perceived as criminals regardless of their innocence. This has caused many Black people to be stopped for suspected drug use while their white counterparts are rarely suspected of the same infraction. A 2011 study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive found that while white people were more likely to use illegal drugs, Black people were still arrested for illegal drug use at disproportionately higher rates.

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Longer Prison Sentences for Black Men

According to a study by the U.S. Sentencing Commission in 2012, Black men are not only far more likely to be perceived as criminals, but they also receive far longer sentences for the same crimes that their white counterparts have committed. The study revealed that Black men typically received prison sentences that were 20 percent longer than the sentences given to white men who were charged with similar crimes.

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