200,000 by 2009, an increase of more than 700%. by 2009, drug offenders comprised more than half of the total population of federal inmates, many of whom were subject to mandatory minimum sentences. the new tough on crime policy shift was also accompanied by profound racial inequities incarceration rates. despite comparable rates of drug sales african-americans and latinos are far more likely to become criminalized and serve longer sentences for drug offenses. in 2010 president obama began taking the first major deviation away from the policies that created those disparities when he signed the...