THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 13, 1994 TAG: 9408130282
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK AND LISE OLSEN, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 170 lines
Judge Von L. Piersall Jr. didn't used to see a lot of drug cases involving black juveniles in Portsmouth's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, where he has been on the bench since 1971.
But by the late 1980s, Piersall began to see a change. He noticed that virtually all of the youths arrested in his city on drug charges were African-American. And the trend has continued into the 1990s, Piersall says.
``There are hardly ever any white kids charged with drug violations,'' Piersall said. ``The vast majority is black.''
This is not just a Portsmouth phenomenon. Piersall's experience is reflected in all Hampton Roads cities and in Virginia, according to statistics compiled by the FBI.
An analysis of those statistics by The Virginian-Pilot shows that during the 1980s a racial flip-flop occurred among juveniles arrested on drug charges.
Law enforcement officials said the change corresponded with the jolting impact of the spread of crack cocaine in some African-American communities. And two police chiefs said those same communities have rallied to help police fight the pervasive drug.
Until 1988, most drug suspects younger than 18 in the region and state were white. The next year, the statistical picture changed. In 1989, most juvenile drug suspects were African-American, and that trend has continued.
During the early part of the 1980s, officers in Hampton Roads commonly arrested white youths for smoking marijuana, police said. Before 1989 about three-quarters of the juvenile drug arrests involved white youths. Arrests of African-American juveniles on drug charges never exceeded 27 percent of the total.
But by 1990, African-American juveniles made up 73 percent of the youths arrested in Hampton Roads on drug charges. That percentage climbed to 83 percent in 1991 before sliding back to 78 percent in 1992, the latest year for which figures were available.
The state trend proceeded along the same route. In 1980 whites made up 85 percent of the juvenile drug suspects arrested in Virginia. That percentage decreased slowly but steadily throughout the decade, and by 1989 white youths made up only 45 percent of those arrested on drug charges.
In 1991 African-American juveniles made up 73 percent of the arrests in Virginia.
Another thing began to change about 1989. Increasingly, most African-American juveniles arrested in Hampton Roads were being charged with selling drugs, not using them.
What caused all these changes? Is it racism? Can it be attributed to a change in drug-use patterns? Are police simply targeting sellers now instead of users? Is it a combination of several factors?
One thing is certain. The number of juvenile drug arrests has not changed significantly during the past dozen years.
In 1980, for instance, 550 juveniles in Hampton Roads were arrested on drug charges. In 1992 that number had decreased by 54, to 496.
And at least one of the region's police chiefs says he thinks white youths have not quit using marijuana.
``I believe that marijuana use is pretty constant,'' said Portsmouth Chief of Police Dennis A. Mook. ``It has been and I think it always will be. But when cocaine came in, it became the drug of choice.''
Crack cocaine was a new drug in the 1980s, and its introduction altered the inner-city landscape, says Dewey Cornell, an education professor and clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia.
``The biggest difference is that in 1980 we didn't have crack markets spread throughout the country. In the mid-1980s, crack became increasingly popular in urban areas. And the areas where cocaine was most prevalent are overrepresented by racial minorities.''
Mook agreed:
``Cocaine changed who was in drugs and who was buying drugs,'' he said. ``Back in 1980, before crack cocaine, the drug problem wasn't nearly what it is today, not even close.''
Urban crack markets often operate on street corners. They are easy to identify, experts say. The same type of drug transaction taking place in white, suburban neighborhoods probably happens in a garage or basement, out of the view of police and the law-abiding public.
``As far as in the white community, it is there, but it is not on the streets like it it is in the black communities,'' said Kevin Yearwood, director of the Colonial Avenue Boys Club in Norfolk.
Bernard Spellman, president of the Norfolk branch of the NAACP, says he does not blame racism or the police for the change in juvenile arrest figures. Instead, he says society has a deeper moral problem that has produced the drug problem in some black neighborhoods.
``There is a hopelessness that these youngsters are experiencing,'' Spellman said. ``Many young blacks have withdrawn from the moral teachings of the church.''
Adult arrest statistics for African-Americans are also bleak. Like those for juveniles, adult arrests when viewed racially have reversed during the past dozen years.
In 1980 African-Americans made up 25 percent of the adults arrested on drug charges. By 1991 that figure had climbed to 58 percent. In 1992 it was 55 percent.
Another reason for police interest in crack is the violence level associated with its sale. Police say there is a widespread perception that dealing crack cocaine is a big money-making enterprise. That has increased the prevalence of gun use among those within the crack cocaine culture. The pushers enforce the black-market code swiftly when the money is big, police say.
``With crack cocaine we are in a little different era,'' said Melvin C. High, Norfolk's police chief. ``The violence level has really escalated.''
Police also have targeted places where crack is sold because the majority of the people who live in these areas are law-abiding and request police help in maintaining their neighborhoods.
``We undoubtedly get much more information from the black community than the white community,'' said Portsmouth's Mook. ``Blacks have really rallied to take control, and we go where the interest is.''
Norfolk's High added: ``In the communities where the transactions take place, most people want peace, quiet and safety. We are responding to the requests of these citizens.''
Juveniles also are using crack, according to the arrest figures. As late as 1989, more than 60 percent of black youths arrested for drugs were charged with possession.
Increasingly, though, arrests tend to be for selling rather than using, according to the statistics. In 1991, for instance, sellers outnumbered users by more than 2-to-1 among African-American juveniles.
The socioeconomic reasons for this are obvious, experts say.
``We have a culture that says that success is achieved through money,'' said Peter Sheras, another clinical psychologist at U.Va. ``These kids begin to believe in the idea of `live fast, die young, but at least have some money.' They are more willing to take risks because they don't see a future for themselves. Kids from a more middle-class environment don't see their situation as so dire.''
``A lot of young black people wanted to be entrepreneurs and make money,'' High said. ``They got into selling drugs.''
These young pushers make up such a large portion of juvenile offenders that state authorities have started a special program to help counsel them.
At the state's Beaumont Learning Center in Powhatan, Wayde Glover oversees a pilot program for juvenile drug traffickers. Glover said the program, which deals with 30 youths at a time, is one of the first of its type in the country. It was started two years ago and now has a waiting list.
``We feel it is going very well,'' Glover said. ``But it is just two years old, and part of our success will be measured by recidivism. And our kids have not been out long enough for us to know about that.''
Glover said the program is aimed at clarifying values, understanding the consequences for victims and channeling energy into positive areas.
``We have some real entrepreneurs,'' Glover said. ``We need to point them in the direction of legalized entrepreneurship.''
What is happening among African-American juveniles in Virginia, Glover said, reflects what is happening nationally.
``And it is becoming scary,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC
PAI/Staff
A CHANGING TREND IN DRUG ARRESTS
Drug arrests* by race
SOURCE: FBI
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
[Photos]
``There are hardly ever any white kids charged with drug
violations. The vast majority is black.''
-Judge Von L. Piersall Jr.
``Cocaine changed who was in drugs and who was buying drugs.
Back in 1980, before crack cocaine, the drug problem wasn't nearly
what it is today, not even close.''
-Dennis Mook, Portsmouth police chief
``A lot of young black people wanted to be entrepreneurs and make
money. They got into selling drugs.''
-Melvin High, Norfolk police chief
KEYWORDS: ILLEGAL DRUGS ARRESTS DRUG ARRESTS CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES
POSSESSION TRAFFICKING JUVENILES BLACKS WHITES RACE
FBI STATISTICS by CNB