As a result of tough laws incarcerating drug offenders,violent criminals are a decreasing share of the prison population. In 1991, according to the Cato Institute, only one out of five drug offenders in state prisons, and one out of three in federal ones, had a violent history. And the increasing number of drug offenders in prison comes at a time when the use of all illegal drugs is lower than it has been for years, although it remains high in the inner cities.
Black Americans have been disproportionately hit by the war on drugs because they tend to commit the wrong kinds of drug crimes. For example, under federal law the possession of five grams of cocaine powder is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum prison sentence of one year. Possession of five grams of crack cocaine, though, is a felony that carries a mandatory five-year sentence. Blacks are much more likely to smoke crack. In percentage of estimated use, blacks use more than three times the percentage of crack than whites (1.6% to 0.5%) (Rushefsky 2008, 283). The result is a large increase in the number of blacks in prison:
Indeterminate sentencing gives discretion to parole boards, which can reward good behavior and help with overcrowding by reducing inmates' prison time. In 1976, California switched to determinate sentencing. This reflects a philosophy of deterrence and means that prison time is fixed, regardless of good behavior (The Economist 2009d, 28). Such determinate or mandatory minimum sentences, at both the federal and the state level, are filling up prisons faster than new ones can be built; more than a dozen states also have three-strikes rules that require long prison stretches for a third felony. The 1995 California law