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During the recent war on drugs, large numbers of drug offenders were sentenced to probation. Critics of this policy argued that drug offenders belonged in prison. This analysis uses logistic regression to compare 1993 individual level data on felony and non-drug felony probationers. The results of this analysis provide some justification for the general fear presented in the public media that felony drug probationers threaten communities. However, when the performance of African-American men on probation for felony drug offenses is partitioned, analysis results indicate that they are not the threat to public safety to the extent indicated by the media or envisioned by the American public.