NEWARK, NJ (AP) -- More drug arrests are made in Newark proportionally than in any U.S. city according to a study released Monday.
The study published by The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based nonprofit criminal justice group, found that 39 percent of Newark's total arrests in 2003 were for drug offenses, up from 8 percent in 1980.
Baltimore had the next highest percentage of drug arrests with 28 percent.
The study found drug arrests of blacks have increased more than 700 percent in the city since 1980.
The study attributed the high arrest figures to local policies that target all levels of the drug trade instead of focusing only on high-level traffickers.
Newark's overall drug arrests rose 663 percent from 1980 to 2003, more than all but four of 43 cities surveyed. Tucson topped the list with an 887 percent increase.
Among blacks, Newark's drug arrests rose 749 percent, the seventh-highest rate.
A separate study by New York-based Human Rights Watch found that New Jersey was one of 16 states in which blacks were imprisoned for drug offenses between 10 and 42 times more often than whites.
According to the study, blacks in New Jersey entered prison on drug charges at a rate more than 20 times higher than whites. Only Wisconsin (42.4) and Illinois (23.6) had greater disparities than New Jersey.
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