Revisiting Neighborhood Context and Racial Disparities in Drug Arrests Under the Opioid Epidemic

• Author: Daniel O’Connell,Ellen A. Donnelly,Tammy L. Anderson,Jascha Wagner
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368719877222
• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Date: 01 April 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Revisiting Neighborhood

Context and Racial

Disparities in Drug Arrests

Under the Opioid Epidemic

Ellen A. Donnelly

1

, Jascha Wagner

1

,

Tammy L. Anderson

1

, and Daniel O’Connell

1

Abstract

As opioid addiction has risen in recent years, racial disparities in drug arrests may be

changing in their size and sources. Neighborhood conditions, like economic dis-

advantage and racial composition, are powerful determinants of racial differences in

arrests. Overdoses and police responses to these incidents may, however, alter the

neighborhood context of drug arrests, especially those tied to heroin, synthetic

narcotics, and related opium derivatives offenses. This study revisits the environ-

mental correlates of arrest disparities by conducting a neighborhood-level analysis of

Black–White differences in drug possession and selling arrests by substance type

across the State of Delaware. Spatial model estimates suggest economic disadvantage

and racial diversity in neighborhoods substantially increase Black arrest rates. Con-

versely, White arrest rates grow with more calls for service for overdose incidents,

racial homogeneity, and to a lesser extent, economic disadvantage within a commu-

nity. Disparities in arrest also vary by substance type, as heroin arrests for Whites are

most correlated with higher overdose service calls relative to White arrests for

marijuana, cocaine, and other substances or Black arrests for any substance. Results

underscore the need to reexamine neighborhood conditions and arrest disparities

due to emerging shifts in drug use and drug law enforcement.

Keywords

drugs, drug laws, race and policing, war on drugs, longitudinal crime trends

1

Center for Drug and Health Studies, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of

Delaware, Newark, DE, USA

Corresponding Author:

Ellen A. Donnelly, Center for Drug and Health Studies, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice,

University of Delaware, 257 E. Main Street, Newark, DE 19716, USA.

Email: done@udel.edu

Race and Justice

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368719877222

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2022, Vol. 12(2) 322–\ 343

Article

“Drug war era” policies and practices that focused on proactive policing have been

key contributors to racial inequality in the U.S. criminal justice system (Lynch, 2012).

The “war on drugs” led to the proliferation of Black arrest and incarceration rates that

cannot be explained by illicit drug use (Tonry & Melewski, 2008). Despite plum-

meting crime rates (Zimring, 2006) and shrinking correctional populations (Kaeble &

Cowhig, 2018), disparities related to drug offenses remain present. In 2016, Blacks

represented 25%of arrestees for drug abuse violations (Federal Bureau of Investi-

gation, 2018) and 38%of defendants sentenced to incarceration for drug-related

offenses (Carson, 2018). Identifying arrest disparities and their sources are then

important goals for scholarship and public policy (Donnelly, 2017; Stewart, Warren,

Hughes, & Brunson, 2017).

Neighborhood context is vital in shaping arrest patte rns. Criminal inc idents and

arrest rates are concentrated in a few communities and unevenly distributed across

large geographic areas (Hipp, 2007; Peterson & Krivo, 2010; Sampson, 2012).

Scholarship has traditionally identified economic disadvantage and racial compo-

sition of neighborhoods as two drivers of racial differences in arrest outcomes.

Proponents of the “racial invariance” perspective suggest economic deprivation

encourages involvement in drug offenses given strain, frustration, and a lack of

opportunity to achieve culturally valued goals (Sampson & Wilson, 1995; Sampson,

Wilson, & Katz, 2018). Police responses within high crime communities may

become greater if drug offenses occur in more visible spaces (e.g., street corners;

Tonry & Melewski, 2008).

Police surveillance is not race-neutral, however (Unnever & Gabbidon, 2011).

“Racial threat” theorists argue that racial differences in arrests come from dis-

criminatory and biased policing practices (Alexander, 2010; Fagan & Davies, 2000;

Wacquant, 2001). Communities with more ethnoracially diverse populations may face

greater scrutiny for drug offenses, prompting high rates of Black overrepresentation in

arrests that do not correspond to underlying involvement in illegal drug-related

activities (Mitchell & Caudy, 2015). Recent neighborhood-level studies have

affirmed the roles of both economic disadvantage (Engel, Smith, & Cullen, 2012;

Parker & Maggard, 2005) and racial composition (Beckett, Nyrop, & Pfingst, 2006;

Gaston, 2019) in forging spatial patterns of drug arrests in major U.S. cities.

The rise of opioid addiction may be redefining racial differences in drug law

enforcement. Drug use patterns among the American public have changed with the

dramatic increases in prescription painkiller and heroin use (Jalal et al., 2018). This

surge in opioid use has disproportionately affected Whites, led to increases in drug

poisonings (i.e., overdoses), and contributed to the reversal of decades of progress in

mortality in the United States (Case & Deaton, 2015). Police officers have also begun

to shift their approaches to responding to overdoses (Green et al., 2013; Purviance,

Ray, Tracy, & Southard, 2017), and the public sees a greater role for the criminal

justice system in combating opioid abuse (K. D. Wagner et al., 2015). Dispropor-

tionate involvement in drug offenses, in particular those related to heroin, synthetic

narcotics (e.g., fentanyl), and opium derivatives, may shift law enforcement focus and

deployments, resulting in changes in drug arrests (Engel et al., 2012). At the same

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Donnelly et al.