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Blacks Are Singled Out for Marijuana Arrests
Posted by CN Staff on June 04, 2013 at 05:04:39 PT
By Ian Urbina 
Source: New York Times
Washington, D.C. -- Black Americans were nearly four times as likely as whites to be arrested on charges of marijuana possession in 2010, even though the two groups used the drug at similar rates, according to new federal data. This disparity had grown steadily from a decade before, and in some states, including Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, blacks were around eight times as likely to be arrested. During the same period, public attitudes toward marijuana softened and a number of states decriminalized its use. But about half of all drug arrests in 2011 were on marijuana-related charges, roughly the same portion as in 2010. 
Advocates for the legalization of marijuana have criticized the Obama administration for having vocally opposed state legalization efforts and for taking a more aggressive approach than the Bush administration in closing medical marijuana dispensaries and prosecuting their owners in some states, especially Montana and California. The new data, however, offers a more nuanced picture of marijuana enforcement on the state level. Drawn from police records from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the report is the most comprehensive review of marijuana arrests by race and by county and is part of a report being released this week by the American Civil Liberties Union. Much of the data was also independently reviewed for The New York Times by researchers at Stanford University. “We found that in virtually every county in the country, police have wasted taxpayer money enforcing marijuana laws in a racially biased manner,” said Ezekiel Edwards, the director of the A.C.L.U.’s Criminal Law Reform Project and the lead author of the report. During President Obama’s first three years in office, the arrest rate for marijuana possession was about 5 percent higher than the average rate under President George W. Bush. And in 2011, marijuana use grew to about 7 percent, up from 6 percent in 2002 among Americans who said that they had used the drug in the past 30 days. Also, a majority of Americans in a Pew Research Center poll conducted in March supported legalizing marijuana. Though there has been a shift in state laws and in popular attitudes about the drug, black and white Americans have experienced the change very differently. “It’s pretty clear that law enforcement practices are not keeping pace with public opinion and state policies,” said Mona Lynch, a professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She added that 13 states have in recent years passed or expanded laws decriminalizing marijuana use and that 18 states now allow it for medicinal use. In the past year, Colorado and Washington State have legalized marijuana, leaving the Justice Department to decide how to respond to those laws because marijuana remains illegal under federal law. The cost of drug enforcement has grown steadily over the past decade. In 2010, states spent an estimated $3.6 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws, a 30 percent increase from 10 years earlier. The increase came as many states, faced with budget shortfalls, were saving money by using alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders. During the same period, arrests for most other types of crime steadily dropped. Researchers said the growing racial disparities in marijuana arrests were especially striking because they were so consistent even across counties with large or small minority populations. The A.C.L.U. report said that one possible reason that the racial disparity in arrests remained despite shifting state policies toward the drug is that police practices are slow to change. Federal programs like the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program continue to provide incentives for racial profiling, the report said, by including arrest numbers in its performance measures when distributing hundreds of millions of dollars to local law enforcement each year. Phillip Atiba Goff, a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that police departments, partly driven by a desire to increase their drug arrest statistics, can concentrate on minority or poorer neighborhoods to meet numerical goals, focusing on low-level offenses that are easier, quicker and cheaper than investigating serious felony crimes. “Whenever federal funding agencies encourage law enforcement to meet numerical arrest goals instead of public safety goals, it will likely promote stereotype-based policing and we can expect these sorts of racial gaps,” Professor Goff said. A version of this article appeared in print on June 4, 2013, on page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Blacks Are Singled Out For Marijuana Arrests, Federal Data Suggests.Source: New York Times (NY)Author:  Ian Urbina Published: June 4, 2013Copyright: 2013 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/Sk3rdezWCannabisNews  -- Cannabis  Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on June 07, 2013 at 13:34:32 PT
Well said.
Runruff.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by runruff on June 06, 2013 at 20:32:25 PT
Faux truth and the law.
I find cops believe that they lie so good we must be stupid not to believe them.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by Hope on June 06, 2013 at 11:43:18 PT
"Serious public safety risks"?
"It is critical that Illinois avoids the mistakes of states like Colorado, where passage of medical marijuana legislation resulted in a dramatic jump in crashes where the driver tested positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana,” Ways said."I don't remember that being in the news. I don't think it happened. Maybe more testing... and more people accused of it.... but not "A dramatic jump in crashes where the driver tested positive for THC." That sounds like a lie.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by museman on June 06, 2013 at 11:21:58 PT
runruff
"Cops are the whinniest bunch of tough guys I have ever seen."Yeah, take away their badges and guns, and all that's left for them is beer and fear. No wonder they are so afraid of people's liberties...if they can't invent more crime, they would logically work themselves out of a job. I mean if they were really concerned with real criminals.But they and their lawyer friends have been inventing crime for a couple of centuries now, making sure to only bust a fraction of the thieves, thugs, and miscreants -mostly because they themselves are more criminal than the ones they actually arrest, and most of those are victims of the real 'criminal justice system' because that system is criminal!Yes they have quite a scam going there, and most of the citizens seem to go along with it. Law and justice together in the same sentence is an oxymoron, and anyone who believes otherwise is just a moron.IMO LEGALIZE FREEDOM   
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by runruff on June 06, 2013 at 09:59:49 PT
Chi Town cops?
They have dirtied up and corrupted that town and the profession of law enforcement until I ask them, why do you presume you have any credibility left? I see the cops as a reverse barometer, if it is bad for them it is good for us.Cops are the whinniest bunch of tough guys I have ever seen.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by ekim on June 06, 2013 at 09:41:52 PT
Farm Aid needs to support Hemp Farming
http://www.drugwarrant.com/2013/06/the-only-argument-against-legalizing-hemp-is-that-law-enforcement-is-too-stupid-to-know-the-difference/#comments
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by FoM on June 06, 2013 at 08:44:22 PT
CBS News Article
Crime Commission Asks Governor To Veto Medical Marijuana BillJune 6, 2013The Chicago Crime Commission has urged Gov. Pat Quinn to veto medical marijuana legislation approved by state lawmakers earlier this year.The commission said legalizing medical marijuana would “present serious public safety risks to the citizens of the state.”The governor has said he is “open-minded” on medical marijuana, but has not said if he would sign the legislation approved by the Illinois General Assembly.Complete Article: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/06/06/crime-commission-asks-governor-to-veto-medical-marijuana-bill/
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on June 04, 2013 at 09:12:01 PT
full ACLU report
can be downloaded here:http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu-thewaronmarijuana-rel2.pdf
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on June 04, 2013 at 07:46:24 PT
Circle Complete, Police Making and Enforcing Laws:
"police practices are slow to change" "police departments, partly driven by a desire to increase their drug arrest statistics, can concentrate on minority or poorer neighborhoods to meet numerical goals, focusing on low-level offenses that are easier, quicker and cheaper than investigating serious felony crimes. “Whenever federal funding agencies encourage law enforcement to meet numerical arrest goals instead of public safety goals, it will likely promote stereotype-based policing and we can expect these sorts of racial gaps,” Professor Goff said."And arrests in 2011 up 30% from previous decade, etc. etc. Can you say Police State?
Pot Law
[ Post Comment ]


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