<P> Courts were given more discretion in sentencing by the Kimbrough v. United States (2007) decision, and the disparity was decreased to 18: 1 by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 . As of 2006, 49.3% of state prisoners, or 656,000 individuals, were incarcerated for non-violent crimes . As of 2008, 90.7% of federal prisoners, or 165,457 individuals, were incarcerated for non-violent offenses . </P> <P> By 2003, 58% of all women in federal prison were convicted of drug offenses . Black and Hispanic women in particular have been disproportionately affected by the War on Drugs . Since 1986, incarceration rates have risen by 400% for women of all races, while rates for Black women have risen by 800% . Formerly incarcerated Black women are also most negatively impacted by the collateral legal consequences of conviction . </P> <P> According to the American Civil Liberties Union, "Even when women have minimal or no involvement in the drug trade, they are increasingly caught in the ever - widening net cast by current drug laws, through provisions of the criminal law such as those involving conspiracy, accomplice liability, and constructive possession that expand criminal liability to reach partners, relatives and bystanders ." </P> <P> These new policies also disproportionately affect African - American women . According to Dorothy E. Roberts, the explanation is that poor women, who are disproportionately black, are more likely to be placed under constant supervision by the State in order to receive social services . They are then more likely to be caught by officials who are instructed to look specifically for drug offenses . Roberts argues that the criminal justice system's creation of new crimes has a direct effect on the number of women, especially black women, who then become incarcerated . </P>

Percentage of us population that has been arrested