Anti-Latine bias and drug-induced homicide law support: Evidence from a nationally diverse, randomized survey experiment in the United States

Abstract

Background

Drug-induced homicide laws, which hold people criminally responsible for overdose deaths linked to drugs they distribute, are a prominent feature of modern United States drug policy. Some are concerned that support for these laws is bolstered by racialized assumptions about people who sell drugs. The current study examines whether and how the perceived race-ethnicity of a suspected “drug dealer” affects support for drug induced homicide laws.

Methods

Participants (n = 2940) recruited from Cint Theorem were randomized to one of four vignettes which varied the race-ethnicity of a suspect who distributed drugs connected to an overdose death (Latine, Black, white, or unidentified race). Participants answered questions about their general support for a drug-induced homicide law as well as several determinants of support: beliefs about deterrence, moral justification, preference for the “homicide” charge name, and desire for additional incarceration.

Results

Compared to those shown a non-Latine suspect, respondents shown a Latine suspect had significantly greater odds of supporting drug-induced homicide laws, believing they are morally justified, and desiring additional incarceration, but were statistically indistinguishable for beliefs about deterrence and preference for the “homicide” charge name. Results were driven by non-Hispanic respondents.

Conclusion

This is the first study of its kind to consider the Latine community as a target of punitive drug policy bias. These results suggest that race- and ethnicity-based assumptions continue to influence public opinion about drug policy, echoing the punitive racialization patterns of past “wars” on drugs.