increase among White drug defendants. (11) According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, surveys have documented that drug use is roughly consistent across racial and ethnic groups. While there is less data available regarding drug sellers, research from the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the National Institute of Justice has found that drug users generally buy drugs from someone of their own racial or ethnic background. But, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, about 74.4 percent of all drug offenders sentenced in 2016 were African American and Hispanic, many of whom are low-level offenders. (12) As a result of Federal prosecutors’ focus on low-level drug offenders, the overwhelming majority of individuals subject to the heightened crack cocaine penalties are African American. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, in fiscal year 2016, of those offenders sentenced on Federal crack cocaine charges, only 5.5 percent were White, while 82.6 percent and 11.4 percent were African American and Hispanic, respectively. (13) According to the U.S. Census, African Americans comprise 13.3 percent of the U.S. population, but according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, in fiscal year 2016, African Americans made up about 23.6 percent of all Federal drug convictions. (14) According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice, by 2003, African Americans, on average, now serve almost as much time in Federal prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as Whites do for a violent offense (61.7 months). (15) According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, in fiscal year 2016, about 34.6 percent of women entering Federal prison did so for a drug offense. Linking drug quantity with punishment severity has had a particularly profound impact on women, who are historically more likely to play peripheral roles in a drug enterprise than men. However, because prosecutors can attach drug quantities to an individual regardless of the level of a defendant’s participation in