Pubdate: Wed, 05 Jun 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Justin Berton

RACIAL DISPARITY FOR S.F. POT BUSTS

Blacks Much More Likely to Be Arrested Than Whites

In San Francisco, a city that prides itself on a progressive attitude 
toward marijuana, authorities have been arresting fewer and fewer 
people for pot possession. But when they do, the person arrested is 
far more likely to be African American than white, according to a 
report released Tuesday.

The report by the American Civil Liberties Union, which analyzed 
federal arrest data, found that black people in San Francisco were 
4.3 times more likely than white people to be arrested on the charge 
in 2010. The disparity was twice the state rate and slightly higher 
than the national rate.

The divide in marijuana arrests - which the ACLU attributed to a 
"staggering racial bias" - persisted even though black and white 
people have been found to use pot with similar frequency, the report 
concluded. It questioned the high cost of marijuana enforcement at a 
time when Americans are increasingly favoring legalization of the drug.

San Francisco Police Department officials did not respond Tuesday to 
requests for comment on the report.

The numbers varied across the Bay Area, with Marin County authorities 
arresting 4.1 African Americans for every white person in 2010. In 
contrast, police in Alameda County arrested 1.3 blacks for marijuana 
possession for every white person.

Experts on policing and drug enforcement offered a number of theories 
on the disparity in San Francisco, including that police officers 
target enforcement in neighborhoods that have high African American 
populations and high levels of crime, like Bayview-Hunters Point.

As the core African American population diminishes in San Francisco 
and concentrates in the city's southeast districts, some experts 
said, the group can be disproportionately affected by such enforcement.

Blacks 6% of S.F.

Black residents made up 6 percent of San Francisco's population in 
2010 while whites comprised 55 percent. The ACLU report said that of 
298 marijuana possession arrests that year, 99 were black suspects 
and 195 were white suspects.

Mona Lynch, a criminology professor at UC Irvine who has written 
about drug arrests and racial disparity in San Francisco, said 
officers initiated stops based on the suspicion that a person might 
be smoking marijuana.

"It's a new way cops can intervene in people they're interested in," 
Lynch said. "It's not on the highways, but in streets, parks and 
neighborhoods. If police are saturating a neighborhood, it'll 
guarantee the arrests look like the neighborhood they're saturating."

The ACLU's findings were little surprise to members of San 
Francisco's Police Commission. In January, researchers from the 
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a San Francisco group that 
seeks to reduce incarcerations, presented a report that showed 
members of minority groups in the city were arrested far more often 
for all drug-related crimes than white residents per capita.

No consensus on cause

Selena Teji, the center's policy analyst, said there is no consensus 
on what is behind the disparity.

"Everyone has their own belief why this is happening, but there's 
been no examination of the data to learn why, so there's no real 
explanation," Teji said. "The (police) department has been revamping 
its data collection system so the response has been slow and superficial."

Police Commissioner Joe Marshall said the ACLU report echoed the 
earlier finding, suggesting something was amiss in minority neighborhoods.

"It depends where you look for the drugs - that's where you'll find 
them," Marshall said. "From a police perspective, it can make sense. 
But the other side is, when you've got numbers this high, you've got 
to re-examine all of your policies, strategies and tactics. You can't 
just ignore something like this."

An arrest for marijuana possession, Marshall said, can lead youths 
into the criminal justice system when they would have been better off 
in the long run if they steered clear. Marshall said he would take 
the ACLU's report to the next Police Commission meeting and call for 
a response from the department.

At a commission meeting in January, Police Chief Greg Suhr agreed to 
provide more department data to researchers who wanted to investigate 
the issue.

Data from 2001-10

The ACLU's report analyzed arrest data from 2001 through 2010, the 
same year California lowered the penalty for marijuana possession of 
less than 1 ounce from a misdemeanor to an infraction.

As legal analysts expected, the number of statewide marijuana 
misdemeanor arrests dropped dramatically - from 54,849 in 2010 to 
7,764 in 2011, according to the state Department of Justice. In San 
Francisco, the drop was similar - down from 279 to 11.

Yet of the 11 misdemeanor arrests, six involved African American suspects.

"It's outrageous and sad that San Francisco leads in the 
discriminatory enforcement of marijuana laws of minorities and people 
of color," said Public Defender Jeff Adachi. "There needs to be an 
investigation."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom