The "Drug War" has led to racial bias in drug arrests, prosecutions, and sentencing. In 1992 African-Americans composed approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population and, according to the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, about 13 percent of those who reported using any illicit drug on a monthly basis. Yet more than one-third of all drug possession arrests, more than half of all possession convictions, and three-quarters of State prison sentences for possession involved blacks. There is good statistical evidence that the low ratio of marriageable black males to females, exacerbated by the "Drug War" and the sentencing revolution of the 1980s and 1990s, has encouraged illegitimacy and family disruption. Robert Sampson, who analyzed census data from 171 cities, found that "the strongest predictor by far" of black family disruption was the gender ratio, followed by black male employment. Family disruption, Sampson hypothesized, gives rise to violence, which reduces the effective gender ratio directly and indirectly through imprisonment, which simultaneously hurts male job prospects. What is needed to reverse some of these factors that are undermining black family life includes the revision of sentencing guidelines to permit greater judicial discretion, including referral of more drug users into treatment, and the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for lower-level trafficking offenses. 6 suggested readings