Thread by @ScottHech

NYPD always claims that it’s complaints (911 & 311 calls) that drive racially disproportionate marijuana arrests. Nope. As we legalization advocates been screaming about for years, it’s actually just racism. See: this important @nytimes study out today. nyti.ms/2IdyUUX

“Across the city, black people were arrested on low-level marijuana charges at 8 times the rate of white people over the last 3 years. Hispanic people were arrested at 5 times rate of white people. In Manhattan, Black people were arrested at 15 times the rate of white people.”

“In Brooklyn, officers in the precinct covering Canarsie arrested people at a rate more than 4 times as high as in the precinct that includes Greenpoint, despite residents calling 311/911 to complain about marijuana at same rate. Canarsie is 85% black. Greenpoint is 4% black.”

“In Queens, marijuana arrest rate is more than 10X as high in the precinct covering Queens Village as it is in precinct serving Forest Hills. Both got marijuana complaints at same rate, but Queens Village is just over half black. Forest Hills = tiny portion of black residents.”

“In Manhattan, officers covering a stretch of west Harlem make marijuana arrests at 2X rate of counterparts covering the northern Upper West Side. Both received complaints at same rate, but the western Harlem has double the percentage of black residents as the Upper West Side.”

These numbers don’t just hold in primarily black and Hispanic neighborhoods. In predominately white neighborhoods, people of color represent an outsized share of marijuana arrests.

“In the precinct covering the southern part of the Upper West Side, white residents outnumber their black and Hispanic neighbors by six to one, yet seven out of every 10 people charged with marijuana possession in the last three years are black or Hispanic.”

“In the precinct covering Park Slope, Brooklyn, where a fifth of the residents are black or Hispanic, three-quarters of those arrested on marijuana charges are black or Hispanic.”

Now, all of these numbers are based on the NYPD’s *own data*. Still, they have the gall to issue this response: “NYPD police officers enforce the law fairly and evenly, not only where and when they observe infractions but also in response to complaints from 911 and 311 calls.”

This is a civil rights issue. I don’t care if you dont care for the smell of weed. Or buy into the false narrative that it’s a gateway drug. Or oppose drug use on moral/religious grounds. Criminalization of weed is objectively, observably racist & destroying communities of color.

Even when people arrested just get a ticket, they’re still stopped, frisked, brought to a precinct, fingerprinted, caged for 6-12 hours, only to be let go if the officer feels like it & told to return to criminal court some weeks later. The process then becomes the punishment.

I invited the NYT to court to see what happened to those clients who had been arrested & “just” gotten tickets: “They missed work or school, sometimes losing hundreds of dollars in wages, to show up in court — often twice, because paperwork was not ready the first time.”

After all that: ”Their cases were all dismissed so long as they stayed out of trouble for a stretch.” As I pointed out, this was “an indication of the low value the court system places on such cases.” If we don’t care about these cases once in court, why arrest/prosecute at all?

In short, #LEGALIZEIT!