In a post dated July 26, 2010, Quigley lists fourteen examples to back up his views.
1. African-Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population, and 14% of monthly drug users, yet they account for 37% of those arrested for drug offenses. (Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project 2009)
2. African-Americans and Latinos are stopped much more than whites, and when they are stopped 85 % are frisked, while only 8% of whites are. (NYPD)
3. African Americans are two to eleven times more likely to be arrested on drug charges than whites. (Human Rights Watch 2009)
4. When arrested, African-Americans are more likely to be detained than whites. (NY State Division of Criminal Justice 1995)
5. African-Americans are more likely to be represented by a Public Defenders, who are usually overworked and under funded. (Quigley 2010)
6. Qualified African-Americans are often not chosen for jury duty. (Equal Justice Initiative 2010)
7. African-Americans, like other races, often plea bargain, even when innocent, rather than go to trial and risk getting a longer sentence. (American Bar Association)
8. Africa-Americans receive longer sentences than whites. (U.S. Sentencing Commission (2010)
9. Two-thirds of those with life sentences are people of color. ( The Sentencing Project 2009)
10. Even though African-Americans are 13% of the population, 14% of drug users, and 37% of those arrested on drug charges, they compromised 56% of people in state prisons for drug offenses. (Marc Mauer The Sentencing Project 2009)
11. An African-American male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of going to jail, the odds being one in three. Latino males have a 17% chance, and white males, 6%. (U.S. Bureau of Statistics )
12. African-American youths account for 16% of the juvenile youth population, but for 28% of juvenile arrests, 37% of juvenile jail inmates, and 58% of youth sent to adult prisons. (Criminal Justice Primer, The Sentencing Project 2009)
13. American is the leader of countries that incarcerate their citizens. (New York Times 2008) African-American males make up the largest number of prisoners. (ABC News)
14. Upon reentry, African-Americans with criminal records received only a 5% call-back rate after applying for a job. White Americans with a criminal record received a call-back rate of 17%. (Professor Devah Pager University of Wisconsin)
For those that are appalled by the virulent racism that undermines our criminal justice system, Quigley suggests working with groups fighting this abomination, such as INCITE, Critical Resistance, The Center for Community Resistance, Thousand Kites and the California Prison Moratorium. Quigley argues that we must get to the root of the problem, not just reform it, stating, “We are not called to only trim the leaves, or prune the branches, but rip up this unjust system by the roots.”
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