cannabisnews.com: The Epidemic of Pot Arrests in New York City

function share_this(num) {
 tit=encodeURIComponent('The Epidemic of Pot Arrests in New York City');
 url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/24/thread24966.shtml');
 site = new Array(5);
 site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit;
 window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500');
 return false;
}












  The Epidemic of Pot Arrests in New York City

Posted by CN Staff on August 10, 2009 at 04:55:22 PT
By Harry G. Levine, AlterNet 
Source: AlterNet  

New York -- There are two things that need to be understood about marijuana arrests in New York City.First, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is not a crime in New York State. Since 1977 and passage of the Marijuana Reform Act, state law has made simple possession of less than seventh-eights of an ounce of pot a violation, like a traffic violation.
One can be given a ticket and fined $100 for marijuana possession, but not fingerprinted and jailed. For over thirty years, New York State has formally, legally, decriminalized possession of marijuana.Second, despite that law, since 1997 the New York City Police Department has arrested 430,000 people for possessing small amounts of marijuana, mostly teenagers and young people in their twenties. Most people arrested were not smoking pot. Usually they just carried a bit of it in a pocket. In 2008 alone, the NYPD arrested and jailed 40,300 people for possessing a small amount of marijuana. These extraordinary numbers of arrests and jailings, continuing for over twelve years, now make New York City the marijuana arrest capital of the world.The arrests for marijuana possession first increased dramatically under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. They have continued unabated under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. By 2008 Bloomberg had arrested more people for pot possession than Giuliani, and more than other mayor in the world.Why has the NYPD continued to order narcotics and patrol officers to make so many misdemeanor pot arrests? For many reasons. The arrests are easy, safe, and provide training for new officers. The arrests gain overtime pay for patrol and narcotics police and their supervisors. The pot arrests allow officers to show productivity, which counts for promotions and choice assignments. Marijuana arrests enable the NYPD to obtain fingerprints, photographs and other data on many young people they would not otherwise have in their criminal justice databases. And there is very little public criticism and thus far no political opposition to New York City's marijuana arrest crusade.Do the pot arrests reduce serious and violent crimes? No, if anything they increase other crimes. Professors Harcourt and Ludwig at the University of Chicago Law School analyzed NYPD data and concluded that the pot possession arrests took officers off the street and distracted them from other crime-fighting activities. "New York City’s marijuana policing strategy," they reported, "is having exactly the wrong effect on serious crime – increasing it, rather than decreasing it.” Veteran police officers agree terming the possession arrests "a waste of time." The arrests drain resources not just of police, but also of courts, jails, prosecutors and public defenders.Perhaps most appalling is who the police are arresting for marijuana possession. U.S. government studies have consistently found that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than do young blacks or Latinos. But the NYPD has long arrested young blacks and Latinos for pot possession at much higher rates than whites.In 2008, blacks were about 26% of New York City's population, but over 54% of the people arrested for pot possession. Latinos were about 27% of New Yorkers, but 33% of the pot arrestees. Whites were over 35% of the City's population, but less than 10% of the people arrested for possessing marijuana. In 2008, police arrested Latinos for pot possession at four times the rate of whites, and blacks at seven times the rate of whites.Do the arrests violate New York State's decriminalization law? Yes and no. Yes, they certainly violate the spirit and intent of the 1977 law which explicitly sought to eliminate the pot possession arrests and the stigma of criminal records, especially for young people. And yes, some police, in particular narcotics squads, do make some illegal searches and arrests.But no, most of the arrests are probably technically legal. The NYPD has found easy ways to trick or intimidate young people so they allow a search, or even just take out their marijuana and hand it over to the officers.Here's how the police do it. NYPD commanders direct officers to stop and question many young people and make arrests for possessing "contraband." In 2008, the NYPD made more than half a million recorded stop and frisks and an unknown number of unrecorded stops, disproportionately in black, Latino and low-income neighborhoods. By far, the most common contraband young people might possess is a small amount of marijuana.According to U.S. Supreme Court decisions, police are allowed to thoroughly pat down the outside of someone's clothing looking for a gun, which is bulky and easy to detect. But police cannot legally search inside a person's pockets and belongings without permission or probable cause.However, police officers can legally make false statements to people they stop, and officers can trick people into revealing things. So in a stern, authoritative voice, NYPD officers will say to the young people they stop:"We're going to have to search you. If you have anything illegal you should show it to us now. If we find something when we search you, you'll have to spend the night in jail. But if you show us what you have now, maybe we can just give you a ticket. And if it’s nothing but a little weed, maybe we can let you go. So if you’ve got anything you’re not supposed to have, take it out and show it now.”When police say this, the young people usually take out their small amount of marijuana and hand it over. Their marijuana is now "open to public view." And that – having a bit of pot out and open to be seen – technically makes it a crime, a fingerprintable offense. And for cooperating with the police, the young people are handcuffed and jailed.Before Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, New York police rarely if ever did this to make marijuana arrests. Since 1997 the NYPD has used this procedure to make tens of thousands of marijuana arrests a year, averaging about a hundred a day, every day for over twelve years. This is more than ten times the average number of marijuana arrests the City made previously. As NYPD and New York Criminal Court data show, before 1997 marijuana arrests were less than one percent of all arrests. The lowest-level misdemeanor pot possession arrests are now over ten percent of all arrests in New York City.New York is extreme in the number of its marijuana arrests. But other cities are also making many pot possession arrests and jailings at high rates, often using the same techniques as the NYPD. As FBI arrest data shows, this includes Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, and other cities.Since the 1990s, the U.S. War on Drugs has emphasized making many low-level possession arrests, especially of marijuana. At least forty percent of all drug arrests are now just for marijuana possession and U.S. marijuana arrests are at an all time high. In the last ten years, the U.S. has arrested more than six million people, mostly young people, for possessing marijuana.As in New York City, pot arrests nationally are racially skewed, racially biased. Throughout the U.S., young blacks and Latinos are stopped, searched and arrested for pot possession at much higher rates than whites – even though young whites use marijuana at higher rates.Do the arrests harm the people arrested? Absolutely. They produce permanent, criminal records which potential employers can easily find, often on the internet. As even the New York City Health Department recognizes, "A marijuana conviction can keep you from getting a student loan, a job, a house or an apartment – even years later." In effect, the marijuana arrests provide the young, mostly low-income blacks, Latinos and whites with a head start for unemployment and prison.The arrests are expensive, but state and local governments do not have to pay for them all. Arrests for possessing even tiny amounts of marijuana and other drugs are subsidized by the U.S. government. Up to a billion dollars a year has been going to states, prosecutors and police departments through the Byrne Grant Program to “fight” drugs and crime. Many Democrats in Congress have been strong supporters of Byrne Grants, including Senators Joe Biden and Barack Obama.In 2009, the economic stimulus package enacted by Congress added two billion dollars more to the Byrne Grant Program. This tripled Byrne Grant funding raising it to the highest level ever. As a result, this epidemic of racially-biased and stigmatizing marijuana possession arrests in New York City and elsewhere will grow even larger.The Obama administration's Department of Justice could alter Byrne grant regulations so that police departments, prosecutors and local governments cannot use the federal funds to subsidize arrests of people who possess only small amounts of marijuana. That alone could do a great deal to reduce the arrests, jailings, and stigmatizing criminal records. But police departments and prosecutors have enormous political clout in Washington. And other than a few civil liberties and drug policy reform groups, there is currently little organized opposition to the pot arrests.Partly because of the economic crisis, some people, especially in California, have proposed that marijuana be legalized, taxed and regulated like alcohol is. Serious, broad-ranging debate about alternatives to marijuana prohibition would be a sensible, hopeful development. But marijuana legalization would constitute a huge change in U.S. drug law and is not likely any time soon. Meanwhile, the great many damaging, expensive, racially-biased marijuana possession arrests and jailings continue – even in places like New York that have legally decriminalized simple possession.In the 1980s Barack Obama was a college student in New York City, living on the border of Harlem. He used marijuana, walked around the city a lot, and sometimes may have carried a bit of pot in his pocket. If the current policing policies of New York and other cities were in effect at that time, he might well have been arrested and jailed. If that had happened Barack Obama would not be president today.Is this what Americans want their police to be doing: arresting enormous numbers of young people, disproportionately black and Latino, and destroying their futures, for … pot possession?Harry G. Levine is a professor of sociology at Queens College, City University of New York. He is the coauthor of Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice, and of the NYCLU report: Marijuana Arrest Crusade: Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City, 1997-2007. Source: AlterNet (US)Author:   Harry G. Levine, AlterNetPublished: August 10, 2009Copyright: 2009 Independent Media InstituteContact: letters alternet.org Website: http://www.alternet.org/URL: http://www.alternet.org/story/141866/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/justice.shtml

Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help    
     
     
     
     





Comment #10 posted by John Tyler on August 10, 2009 at 18:31:15 PT
cannabis arrests
Targeting minorities is always the point. It’s an American tradition. Make up some stupid laws to arrest people for, then convict them in a sham trial. Tag someone with a criminal record when they are young and you have oppressed them for the rest of their life. They will not likely be able to get an education, a decent job, a decent home, or participate in the political process. (or health care either) It takes away their power. They are forever doomed to the bottom rung of society. It wrecks their family. Do it enough and the whole community is ruined, and the whole social structure is damaged. No one will admit it, but that is the point. It has been going on through out our history. We are just seeing it a little bit now.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by Vincent on August 10, 2009 at 13:52:16 PT:
Pot arrests in New York
The reason that marijuana arrests increased in New York in 1997 was because that disgusting animal Rudolf "I never smoked a joint in my life" Giuliani was running for re-election. In my, and many others, opinion--Giuliani was the worst mayor we ever had.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #8 posted by Sam Adams on August 10, 2009 at 13:07:55 PT
Slater
what a great man, a real hero. I hope he knows he left behind a compassionate legacy that will be helping the sick and dying for many years to come.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by FoM on August 10, 2009 at 12:52:28 PT
RI Lawmaker Who Backed Medical Marijuana Dies
August 10, 2009 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The state lawmaker in Rhode Island who backed making marijuana legal to ease the pain of chronically ill patients has died of cancer at age 68.A spokesman for House Speaker William Murphy said Rep. Thomas Slater died of cancer on Monday at his Providence home. The spokesman said funeral arrangement have not yet been scheduled.Slater, a Providence Democrat, sponsored legislation that in 2006 made Rhode Island the 11th state to allow chronically ill patients to possess small amounts of marijuana to ease their symptoms. The drug remains illegal under federal law.At Slater's urging, lawmakers passed legislation this year allowing up to three nonprofit stores to sell marijuana to patients registered with the state.Copyright 2009 by The Associated Presshttp://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/08/10/RI-lawmaker-who-backed-medical/1249933138.html
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by josephlacerenza on August 10, 2009 at 12:04:35 PT
Some News form HuffPo
Had to share this as well!!! FoM I do not think Obama has the political capital to do legalization!!What he does have is the bully pulpit to shift the discussion into a new direction. I still think he is "plowing" the way so it easier to drive our cars down the snowy highway to true drug reform in America.
Drug Prohibition and the President's Political Capital
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by yoshi on August 10, 2009 at 11:30:47 PT:
Part of a very large agenda of control
Hard to believe that the world's most widely used legal drugs a hundred years ago (opium and cannabis) are now the target of a global police effort.
The thought police are hard at work, is HD tv part of a larger conspiracy, alongside fluoride in the water, vaccinations and GMO food?
When the bankers wanted trillions of dollars they got them, despite the fact that most voters opposed the bailout. Just like most voters want a border fence with Mexico and to end America's wars of aggression. Bush or Obama will never sit before Nuremberg style courts, those are saved for low level pawns like Saddam or kim jong ill. 
It's funny to listen to the old Nixon tapes, he was the last President who thought he was in charge, and JFK really wasn't playing ball
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by josephlacerenza on August 10, 2009 at 11:30:28 PT
At least some are finding relief!!!
Chock another one in the good guys column!!!!
Are The Feds Finally Recognizing Medical Marijuana?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by HempWorld on August 10, 2009 at 10:15:44 PT
The above article highlights a disgusting practice
that has been going on, unchecked, for over 3 decades! And it is very symptomatic of what has been going on in the entire country. Wasteful police tactics bordering on the illegal, while undermining the real fight on crime.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on August 10, 2009 at 08:48:15 PT
what a great report
This is the sort of thing you never see - a detailed analysis of what police are actually doing. The media avoids this like the plague.Modern-day cannabis prohibition has nothing to do with "drugs" or health or safety. It's all about control & oppression. It's about enacting a police state right in broad daylight and scapegoating some mythical "drug addict" to get away with it.The media just wants to print whatever lies and fearmongering the cops say RIGHT AWAY! Never any talk about how much time they spend on arrests, HOW MUCH IT COSTS, what the RESULTS actually are.
[ Post Comment ]

 


Comment #1 posted by OverwhelmSam on August 10, 2009 at 05:07:10 PT

Police Abuse Citizens for Training and Pay
So they use marijuana possession offenders for training and overtime. Is that all we are to them? A training opportunity and the chance to earn some additional pay? This is an immoral abuse toward the citizens who pay law enforcement salaries.
[ Post Comment ]





  Post Comment