Police Target Black And Latino Marijuana Users
New York City (NYC,) recently dubbed “the marijuana arrest capital of the world” boasts over a million hours of police work devoted to 440,000 pot possession arrests over the past 11 years. Although most of these arrests were low-level misdemeanors, police appear justified in using their valuable time to arrest, process, and prosecute weed smokers, most of which end up spending one night in jail.
According to a new report issued by the Drug Policy Alliance on Mar. 19, 2012, although young whites use marijuana at higher rates, over 85 percent of the people arrested and jailed for marijuana possession are black and Latino, with 50 percent of those detained being under the age of 21. With seven NYC neighborhoods targeted for “stop and frisk” searches of potential suspects, none of these neighborhoods is predominantly white.
“Stop and frisk” protocol allows police to stop “suspicious persons” and ask them to empty their pockets, if police find marijuana during the frisk, the drug is then considered to be “publically displayed.”
After a 1977 law decriminalized marijuana possession in New York for amounts of less than one ounce, police were then given authority to arrest and charge anyone if the marijuana was in public view.
Even New York’s Governor Cuomo has come out against these arrests in his 2013 State of the State address by saying, “These arrests stigmatize, they criminalize, and they create a permanent record. It's not fair, it's not right, it must end, and it must end now."
Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al., is a federal class action lawsuit filed against the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the City of New York by challenging the NYPD's practices of racial profiling and unconstitutional “stop and frisk.” The case is now being heard, and may bring an end to this relentless pursuit of black and Latino youth for an offense that white kids appear to commit with near impunity.
Article reprinted with permission of RaceReport.com
Comments
What constitutes suspicious
What constitutes suspicious behavior? I understand that poplice officers have a job to do and some may work in the bad neighborhoods, but seriously it's not necessary to search only black and latino people on the streets. I know the police have to know about racial profiling, and maybe they should be reprimanded for their actions. I seriously think that there are much bigger problems in NYC, those police officers need to be worrieng about other things over busting a kid with some weed in his pocket, regardless of race.
Your absolutely right, what
Your absolutely right, what constitutes a suspicious person? It out of control how police officers can arrest people based of a appearance. This is racial profiling at its finest and its unbelievable how its allowed.
I think that the NYPD are on
I think that the NYPD are on a power trip, I think that these police officers are violating people rights. What constitutes someone to be a "suspicious persons, tattoos, baggy clothing, ethnicity? I find this ridiculous that this type of behavior is legal. Our rights are at stake here. Just because someone decides to dress a certain way does not mean they do drugs, just because someone is of a different color do NOT mean they do drugs. This is violating our rights. I understand if an officer smelled marijuana on a persons, then yes they have the right to be searched. But because someone looks suspicious, and does not smell suspicious (oder of marijuana) should not be searched. The justice system is all messed up. The police should be focusing on much harsher crimes than petty marijuana charges.
I find this to be a
I find this to be a particularly intriguing article because of the recent passing of Amendment 64 in Colorado and Washington. There is a lot of confusion about what is and is not accepted by the law in regard to marijuana, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. In other states however, where marijuana is still strictly illegal, the rules are very clear cut: no use or possession of weed without a medical marijuana license. If civilians are found with illegal drugs, I don't think the police officers who stopped and searched them should be blamed for any wrongdoing.Despite this, it does seem that there is are significantly more searches being conducted on minorities than whites. This on the other hand is of course inexcusable. I have heard people say things like "if minorities weren't so often the ones committing crimes, they wouldn't be criminally discriminated against" and I find these reasonings unacceptable. Marijuana use is far more wide spread than many people think, and while it is likely used in some of these areas that police are targeting, there is no doubt that it is also being used by upper-class white citizens.If these stop-and-search routines are going to continue, then there should be more regulations about how many people are stopped in certain neighborhoods, and a more cognizant eye on what percentage of those stopped are a minority or white. I am unsure as to where this would begin or how it would be carried out, but we have strict regulations surrounding other search procedures by law enforcement, so why not include some for this?
Targeting Racism
I feel that police do target minorities for the use of marijuana. People sometimes refer to this as racial profiling, but I feel like it is another way to justify racism. Racism can be illustrated when the police target a minority groups for committing crimes that would occur more in the majority group. For example, White people are more likely to be using marijuana, but the police target Blacks and Latinos. This shows that racism is real and still alive in our nation. People need to be more concerned with targeting racism within police departments because police tend to target the public based on race.
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