A/HRC/15/18 6. Administration of justice 49. In a meeting with the Department of Justice, the members were informed that the Department’s Civil Rights Office runs cases on hate crimes and oversees civil rights legislation. The Office carries out outreach activities in the community to inform people about their civil rights; when it detects an employer that is systematically discriminating against a racial group it files a case against it. The Office also receives complaints of discrimination from individuals. There are Civil Rights Offices in the different Government agencies and they work together and coordinate efforts. 50. According to information contained in the 2007 periodic report of the United States (CERD/C/USA/6), to which the members were referred by the Department of State, in 2004, 3.2 per cent of males of African descent, 1.2 per cent of Hispanic males, and 0.5 per cent of white males in the country were incarcerated in state or federal prisons. Distributions were similar among the female population – the rate for African American females was more than two times higher than the rate for Hispanic females and four times higher than the rate for white females. Overall, the prison population was estimated to be 41 per cent African American, 34 per cent white, 19 per cent Hispanic, and 6 per cent other or two or more races. 51. In meetings with NGOs, the members were informed that the overrepresentation of people of African descent in the United States as subjects of the criminal justice system and their disproportionately high rate of incarceration compared with the white population is of great concern and demonstrates structural discrimination against them. They were informed that women of African descent are three times more likely to be imprisoned than white women, while men of African descent are six and a half times more likely to be imprisoned than white men. The members were informed that at any one time 11 per cent of all men of African descent in the United States between the ages of 30 and 34 are behind bars. 52. One explanation given of the disproportionately high incarceration rate for people of African descent was the discriminatory application of laws. Discrimination was identified by NGOs in terms of perpetrators as well as victims. According to them, black perpetrators are much more likely to be convicted than white perpetrators, and they tend to be punished more severely. Furthermore, it is likely that there will be a difference in convictions and punishment depending on the race or colour of the victim, with generally lower sentences in cases where the victim is black as compared to cases involving white victims. The discriminatory application of laws was illustrated to the members by way of the application of the laws against illegal drug use. Whereas the available evidence shows that people of African descent use illegal drugs at approximately the same rate as white people, they are 10 times more likely, on a per capita basis, to go to prison for drug-related offences. An NGO informed the members that the application of some laws that seem race neutral tend to contribute to disproportionately high rates of incarceration for people of African descent. For example, under United States federal law, possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine (a drug associated in the public mind with African Americans) triggers a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. It takes 100 times as much powder cocaine (500 grams) to trigger the same mandatory five-year sentence. Although African Americans constitute about 12 per cent of the United States population, more than 80 per cent of those prosecuted under the crack cocaine mandatory minimum laws are of African descent. 53. This same disparity was indicated in other areas of criminal law. For example, more than 2,500 persons are currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole or release for crimes committed when they were less than 18 years old. The members were informed that the rate of African Americans serving this sentence is more than 10 times higher than that of whites. The process of criminalization of children from very early childhood and the higher percentage of children of African descent placed in adult facilities is negatively influencing the present protection of the rights of children and their future 14