Marijuana Arrests a Matter of Race: Report

WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

Although Blacks and Hispanics represent about half the city's population, they make up 85 percent of people arrested for marijuana misdemeanors in New York.

REPORTER: These are the results of a study released today in the journal Criminology and Public Policy. The study also found racial disparities in the length of detention, the likelihood of conviction, and in sentencing.

The NYPD dismisses the findings, saying the report doesn't consider the fact that officers are mostly deployed in higher crime neighborhoods, which are more likely to be minority communities.

But Asadullah Muhammad, of the New York Correctional Association says, the report's findings are evidence of racial bias.

MUHAMMAD: Young people are not going to have respect for the law because they know that they are being targetted.

REPORTER: Marijuana misdemeanors are one of the most common arrests in the city, with over 300,000 people charged in the past 10 years.

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