Arresting Blacks for Marijuana in California: Possession Arrests in 25 Cities 2006-08 (part 5)

[note: the following is direct from the report]

As this report was going to press, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1449. Beginning in 2011, possession of 28.5 grams (an ounce) of marijuana will be an infraction rather than a misdemeanor. People found possessing a small amount of marijuana are to be given a summons and fined, but the offense will not automatically create a permanent criminal record easily found on the Internet. This is certainly a less punitive policy and a victory for criminal justice reform.

But this one important change leaves in place other unfair consequences of the marijuana possession offenses and of the policing strategy that produces them. And making marijuana possession an infraction creates other undesirable consequences. In what follows we briefly review some of what can be anticipated at this early stage. In discussing the shift from misdemeanor to infraction, one perceptive observer quoted in the Oakland Tribune pointed out: "There's no reason to believe policing practices are going to change simply because the technical nature of the offense has." Indeed, as has happened in other U.S. cities, police may well feel free to give out more summonses for an infraction.

Both misdemeanors and infractions are results of routine policing practices which disproportionately focus on low-income black and Latino neighborhoods and their young people. Police departments have "productivity goals" (or quotas) for the summonses and arrests that patrol officers should make. Because the routine police stops are much more frequent in black and Latino neighborhoods, they unfairly produce more marijuana infractions and misdemeanors for young people in those neighborhoods. And this goes on despite the fact that U.S. government studies repeatedly find that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young blacks and Latinos. None of this will change because of the new legislation.

If young people stopped by police are found to have a bit of marijuana in their pockets or possessions, and do not have sufficient identification papers, they can still be handcuffed and taken to the police station to check their fingerprints on a database. In the course of the police stop, the officers may add other charges including disorderly conduct or resisting arrest. In 2009 the New York Times reported that police in San Jose, California made many arrests in which the only charge was "resisting arrest." Latinos are 30% of San Jose's population, but Latinos were 60% of the people arrested when "resisting arrest" was the only charge. A reporter for the San Jose Mercury News told the Times that:

"Some people call these 'contempt of cop' or 'attitude arrests.' Contempt of cop arrests are not about committing an underlying crime but disrespecting or disobeying officers. A large segment of the city’s Latino population feels particularly targeted." (See: NY Times, "In San Jose, Resisting Arrest Is Often the Only Reason for an Arrest" By Michelle Quinn, Nov 1, 2009. At: http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/san-josepolice-and-resisting-arrest-cases/?emc=eta1)and-resisting-arrest-cases/?emc=eta1

Again, the "contempt of cop" arrests often come about when the police are writing summonses for infractions, or just investigating the suspicion of an infraction. And that happens much more often in only certain neighborhoods. Although infractions usually can be paid by mail, many young people, especially those from low-income families, do not have credit cards or checking accounts and will therefore go to the court to pay them. Many will not easily be able to make it to court by the required day because of demands of jobs, school, and family. Under California law, failure to pay the fine for an infraction is itself a misdemeanor, a "fingerprintable" offense. When the person eventually appears before a judge or magistrate, the infraction charge may be dropped if the person pleads guilty to the "failure to pay" misdemeanor. This results in a criminal record and often a period of probation for an open criminal offense, with a new set of damaging collateral consequences.

Contrary to some media reports, making marijuana possession an infraction is not technically or legally "decriminalization." Under California law, an infraction is still a criminal offense, a crime. Although an infraction does not produce a police "rap" sheet, there are court records of infractions for marijuana possession that may still appear in some criminal justice databases. For immigration status, credit reports, occupational licensing, and other official purposes, the infraction can still show up as a "drug offense" with some of the same consequences as a misdemeanor. As this report has documented, all the above consequences that can follow from being stopped by the police and given a marijuana infraction are two to twelve times less likely to happen in California's white middle-class neighborhoods.

In his signing statement, the Governor indicated what he regards as the impact of the new law. "The only difference," between a misdemeanor and an infraction, he wrote, "is that because it is [currently] a misdemeanor, a criminal defendant is entitled to a jury trial and a defense attorney." From the Governor's perspective, changing the offense from a misdemeanor saves money by denying defendants in marijuana possession cases access to a public defender and the right to have a jury trial. Moving marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction reduces some punitive consequences, but it comes at the considerable cost of depriving people of fundamental rights.

Finally, there is one other effect of the change of marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to infraction with serious consequences for public debate and policy. When marijuana possession becomes an infraction, there will be no way for reporters or researchers to find out how many summonses for the infraction of marijuana possession are being given out. Misdemeanor arrest data is available from the California Department Justice, but not data on infractions. Without a change in law or policy, the basic information presented in this report will not be available. In 2012, one year after the infraction goes into effect, nobody will be able to prepare a report like this one showing in each California county and city how many blacks, Latinos, or young people were given summonses and fined under the new law. In effect, the policing of marijuana possession will become even more hidden and invisible.

Arresting Blacks for Marijuana in California: Possession Arrests in 25 Cities 2006-08 (part 4)

[note: the following is direct from the report]




Police departments deploy most patrol and narcotics police to certain neighborhoods, usually designated "high crime." These are sproportionately low-income, and disproportionately African American and Latino. It is in these neighborhoods where the police make most patrols, and where they stop and search the most vehicles and individuals, looking or "contraband" of any type in order to make an arrest. The item that people in any neighborhood are most likely to possess, which can get them arrested, is a small amount of marijuana. In short, the arrests are ethnically- and racially-biased mainly because the police are systematically "fishing" for arrests in only some neighborhoods, and methodically searching only some "fish." 6 This produces what has been termed "racism without racists."

In California, most people arrested for marijuana possession have been charged with violating section 11357 of the California Health and Safety Code, because they possessed less than an ounce of marijuana, typically much less. This is legally a crime and produces a criminal record or "rap sheet." Most people found by the police possessing small amounts of marijuana were given a court summons requiring them to appear before a judge at a specified date and time.

For those who failed to appear, the court issued an arrest warrant. When they were next stopped by the police for any reason, including a routine traffic stop, their names were searched in the criminal databases. When the "failure to appear" warrant showed up, they were handcuffed, arrested and jailed. When people with a summons appeared in court at the required date and time, they went before a judge. If they plead guilty – which happened in the vast majority of cases – they were ordered to pay a fine up to $100, plus court costs as high as $360.8 People unable to pay may have been given time to raise the money, but if they could not pay they were usually arrested, handcuffed, and jailed. In the low-income and heavily black and Latino district of Central Los Angeles, for example, people given a court appearance summons were ordered to appear at the Central Arraignment Court on Bauchet Street. The defendants often did not realize that they had been charged with a crime because the summons looks like a traffic ticket. They appeared before a judge who told them they had been charged with a misdemeanor, and that if they plead guilty they would be fined up to $100. The judges routinely recommended defendants waive their right to a trial. The vast majority of defendants wanted to be released and put this experience behind them. They accepted the judge’s recommendation and plead guilty. Most people found the money to pay the fine and court costs and gave it little thought until they applied for a job, apartment, student loan or school and were turned down because a criminal background check revealed that they had been convicted of a “drug crime.”

Twenty years ago, misdemeanor arrest and conviction records were papers kept in court storerooms and warehouses, often impossible to locate. Ten years ago they were computerized. Now they are instantly searchable on the Internet for $20 to $40 through commercial criminal-record database services. Employers, landlords, credit agencies, licensing boards for nurses and beauticians, schools, and banks now routinely search these databases for background checks on applicants. The stigma of a criminal record has created huge barriers to employment and education for hundreds of thousands of people in California.

At some arraignment courts, people are played a video tape that introduces the arraignment process and says they can have their conviction record "expunged.” Those who return to court to do so learn they have to file their own expungement petition with a $120 filing fee. Unless they speak to an attorney, most people are not told that, contrary to popular belief, an expungement does not erase a criminal record – it merely changes the finding of “guilty” to a “dismissal.” The criminal record simply states that the case was dismissed after conviction. So, although people can legally say that they have not been convicted of a crime, they still have a “rap sheet," and a simple background check will show they were arrested and convicted.

A criminal record lasts a lifetime. The explosive growth of criminal record databases, and the ease with which those databases can be accessed on the Internet, creates barriers to employment, housing and education for anyone simply arrested for drug possession. As a result, an arrest in California has serious consequences for anyone, including white, middle class, and especially young people. For young, low-income blacks and Latinos – who use marijuana less than young whites, and who already face numerous barriers and hurdles – a criminal record for the "drug crime" of marijuana possession can seriously harm their life chances. Some officials, such as U.S. Representatives Steve Cohen and Sheila Jackson Lee, have termed the stigmatizing effect of criminal records for marijuana possession a modern "scarlet letter." 10 These marijuana possession arrests, which target young, lowincome Californians, serve as a "head start" program for a lifetime of unemployment and poverty.

As this report was going to press in October 2010, California reduced the legal status of a marijuana possession arrest from a misdemeanor to an infraction, which is also a crime. This change will go into effect in 2011 and we have addressed some of what this means in a brief

Arresting Blacks for Marijuana in California: Possession Arrests in 25 Cities 2006-08 (part 3)

San Bernardino County: African Americans are 9.5% of San Bernardino County’s

1,977,000 residents, but they made up 23% of the people arrested for possessing

marijuana.

City of San Bernardino arrested blacks for marijuana possession at almost seven

times the rate of whites. Blacks are 15.5% of the city's population but 49.6%

marijuana arrestees.

Kern County: In Kern County, just north of Los Angeles, blacks were 19% of the

marijuana arrests but only 6.4% of the population.

Bakersfield is the eleventh largest city in California. Blacks are 8.2% of Bakersfield's

population but 34.1% of the people arrested for marijuana possession. Police in

Bakersfield, arrested blacks at more than six times the rate of whites.

Fresno County: Fresno is north of Bakersfield in central California. African Americans

are 5.8% of the county population but they made up 18% of marijuana arrests. Blacks

were arrested for marijuana possession at over three time the rate for whites.

City of Fresno, the fifth largest city in California, arrested blacks at five times

the rate of whites. Blacks make up 7.7% of Fresno's population, but they are 24.6%

of those arrested for possessing marijuana.

9

Santa Clara County: Santa Clara, in the southern Bay Area, is only 2.8% black. But

blacks were 11% of the people arrested for possessing marijuana.

San Jose, the third largest city in California, is only 2.9% African American. But

San Jose arrested blacks for marijuana possession at more than five times the rate

of whites. San Jose arrested 619 blacks per 100,000 blacks compared to 121 whites

per 100,000 whites.

Solano County: Solano County, about half way between San Francisco and Sacramento,

is 15.3% black. But 39% of the people arrested for marijuana possession are

blacks.

Fairfield, the Solano county seat, arrests blacks at three and a half times the rate of

whites. Fairfield's population is only 16.4% black, but 42.4% of those arrested for

marijuana are black.

Vallejo’s population is 21.4% black, but 63.4% of those arrested for marijuana

possession are black. Vallejo arrests blacks at five and a half times the rate of

whites.

Sacramento County: African Americans make up 10.4% of the county's population

but 38% of those arrested for marijuana. Blacks are arrested at 4.1 times the arrest

rate for whites.

Sacramento is the seventh largest city in the California. Blacks are 13.7% of Sacramento's

population but more than half of all the city's marijuana possession

arrests. Sacramento, the state capitol, arrests blacks at 5.7 times the rate of whites.

Arresting Blacks for Marijuana in California: Possession Arrests in 25 Cities 2006-08 (part 2)

Los Angeles County: Los Angeles County has nearly ten million residents and over

a quarter of California's population. Blacks make up 10% of the county's population,

but they constituted 30% of the marijuana possession arrests. Within specific cities,

the disparities are even greater.

Los Angeles 3.8 million residents, arrested blacks at seven times

the rate of whites. Blacks make up 9.6% of Los Angeles' population but they were

almost 35% of the people arrested for marijuana possession.

Pasadena arrested blacks for marijuana possession at 12.5 times the rate of whites.

Blacks are 11.4% of the city's population but 49.2% of those arrested for marijuana.

Long Beach the sixth largest city in California, arrested blacks for marijuana possession

at 5.9 times the rate of whites. Blacks are 13.2% of the city’s population but

42.4% of marijuana arrests.

Inglewood blacks are 43.8% of the population but 76.7% of those arrested for

marijuana possession. Blacks were arrested at 6.3 times the rate of whites.

Burbank blacks are less than 3% of the population, but over 9% of the people

arrested for marijuana possession. Burbank arrested blacks at 3.5 times the rate of

whites.

Torrance with a population of 140,000, had the highest racial disparity

of the 25 cities. Blacks are only 2% of the population but they made up almost

24% of the people arrested for marijuana possession. Torrance arrested blacks at

over thirteen times the rate for whites.

San Diego County African Americans are 5.6% of the county’s three million residents,

but 20% of the people arrested for marijuana. The possession arrest rate for

blacks was three and a half times higher than the arrest rate for whites. The three

cities we studied show even great disparities:

San Diego, the second largest city in California, blacks were arrested at nearly six

times the rate of whites. African Americans are only 6.5% of San Diego’s

population but they made up 29.5% of those arrested for marijuana possession.

8

Oceanside, blacks are only 4.6% of the population but 17.6% of those arrested

for marijuana possession. Police arrested 184 whites per 100,000 whites for

marijuana possession, compared to 774 blacks per 100,000 blacks.

El Cajon, blacks are 6.2% of the population but more than 20% of those

arrested for possessing marijuana. The city arrested 326 whites per 100,000 whites

compared to 1153 blacks per 100,000 blacks for marijuana possession.

Riverside County: Blacks are 6.6% of this large southern California county, but

blacks make up 17% of the people arrested for marijuana possession.

Riverside blacks are 6.3% of the 12th largest city in California, but are 24% of the

those arrested for marijuana possession. Riverside arrested blacks at almost five

times the rate for whites.

Moreno Valley are 16.7% of the population, the 23rd largest city in the state.

But blacks made up 39.1% of the city's marijuana arrests. The marijuana arrest rate

for blacks was almost three and a half times more than the rate for whites.

Official High Times Kind Bud Price Index by half ounce 
(including popular strain)

National U.S.  Kind Bud Average - $223
Florida
 *Tallahassee- $200 (Mango)

New York

 *New York- $140 (Haze)

                  -$225 (Super Lemon Haze)

                  -$220 (Pineapple Express)
Canada
 *Amherstburg - $107 (Kryptonic)
                        - $120 (Kush)


United Kingdom
 * London - $201 (Strawberry Diesel)

- Courtesy of High Times; prices from December 2010 - April 2011
(stats listed are from the April 2011 issue)

Arresting Blacks for Marijuana in California: Possession Arrests in 25 Cities 2006-08 (part 1)

“It is long past time to end the failed war on drugs. Let us invest in people, not jails and prisons”
- Alice Huffman, President of NACCP of California

A recent report issued by the Drug Policy Alliance, and the California State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People under the umbrella organization titled the Marijuana Arrest Research Project, found a significant amount of data to support the claim that arrests and jail sentencing of minorities is greatly disproportionate to the arrest and incarceration of white defendants. Alice Huffman the president of the California branch of the NAACP uses a fitting quote by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King when he spoke against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War on April on 1967 “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!” The report itself holds the state of California’s unequal enforcement of drug policies accountable; yet the gross inconsistency ends only at the Federal level.

California is a traditionally liberal state. In fact, the party Democrat has not lost the state during the Presidential Elections cycle since the 1988 campaign. Many California municipalities had decriminalized the possession of Cannabis as early as 1975; by 2010 the Governor of California had sign a bill decriminalizing all possession up to an ounce of marijuana. How is it that the state that embodies the humanity and progressive nature found within the United States, may also continue to brutally oppress its own citizenry in a methodical and racist manner?

The collective municipal police force(s) of California from 1990 to 2009 made over 850,000 arrests for possessing small amounts of marijuana. From 1991-2000 that was an average of 36,483.8 arrested citizens per year . In the new millennium the arrests rate for marijuana possession would nearly double from 1999-2008 averaging 50,748.3 arrests per year.

The irony of course rests squarely on the fact that two specific surveys conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Applied Studies from 2002 – 2007 highlight marijuana usage by White Americans as significantly higher than their Black and Latino American counterparts ages 12-25 <2002-2005> <2006 and 2007>.

There were twenty five specific cities noted in the report, containing roughly 10 million residents. Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, and the other twenty one cities held nearly a quarter of California’s total population. Nearly a million of the cumulative cities population is African-American, roughly half of California’s black population.

“ The mind is powerful so if you thinking bull, It will come to past past
So when you living life just be extra nice, True love is the boss boss
Sensimillia chalice no philly yah, Water in my cup cup
I'm not in a rush with the burning bush Light it up up up up”

--Niyorah, "Positive Herb"

It was in 1964, based on the research of two Israeli scientists, that
the cellular process in which cannabis is metabolized was first fully
understood.  The central nervous system actually produces specific
cells designed to harness the delta-9-THC (the most potent of the
Cannabis genetics.)  The specific cells are located along the central
nervous system, creating two types of Endocanabinoid receptors aptly
named CB1 and CB2.  CB1 is where the THC metabolizes creating the
"heady" high, theses nerve cells are located in the brain stem and
related nervous systems functions.  CB2 is the "full body" high ones
encounters with excellent bud.  The key to understanding these two
distinct process, is understanding how Cannabis benefits the human
body in more ways then just killing time, or escaping responsibility.
From every form of cancer, crones disease, sleeping disorders, post
traumatic distress, eating disorders, Cannabis truly has an
opportunity to surpass Opiates in its ability to work miracles for the
sick.

Phillippus (Paraclesus) Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim,
and 15th century philosopher/alchemist, was said to be an avid user of
Cannabis.  He could even be credited as the first Western proponent of
the use of medical marijuana.  A student of Paraclesus, Heinrich
Khunrath created a wonderful mandala in the 16th century to subtly
illuminate the gift that is Cannabis.  The picture shows Heinrich
before his burning Cannabis, in his alchemical laboratory.  The Latin
inscriptions throughout the mandala declare boldly: "ascending smoke,
sacrificial speech acceptable to God", "Happy is the one who follows
the advice of God", "Without the breath of inspiration from God, no
one finds the great way."  No doubt Paraclesus learned the secrets of
Cannabis through his travels to the middle east, passing the secrets
of the herb to his student Khunrath.  It is his Khunrath's words that
we here a familiar echo on the sanctity of the herb.

These alchemist of Western lore, discovered a truth found within the
doctrine of the Rastafari, the Coptic Christian, the Sufi mystic, the
metaphysical connection that the plant brings to our physical reality.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, in finite.

For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”

-William Blake, from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

As we view the effects of Cannabis prohibition in the United States,
we see a growing liberalization in the treatment of the herb.
Currently, thirteen of the fifty U.S. states have progressive laws
decriminalizing non-medical marijuana.  This liberal trend is a far
cry from the D.A.R.E. pinnacle that embodied the anti-narcotic Reagan
administration.

The idea behind cannabis prohibition is the language of narcotics and
misinformation.  The government classifies any non-controlled drug
substance a narcotic.  From this legal precedent, the narcotization of
the cannabis culture fed through a propaganda press.  Private and
publicly funded organizations depict cannabis as an evil drug on par
with crystal meth, crack, or even oxycodone.

Of course language is the fruit, the mind being the root that nurtures
and anchors language to this world.  So the question then proposes
itself, is the ability of the government to outlaw mind altering
substances a form of mind control?  At the same time, is the
government’s ability to prohibit certain products an extension of
Rousseau's famous Social Contract?  There are no easy answers,
especially when treading in the waters of individual liberty.
Ironically, with the election of President Obama, many conservative
Americans who support Cannabis prohibition, harp at the false idea of
a socialist president hell bent on forming a dictatorship in the image
of a Stalinist or Nazi regime.  Yet, when their elected officials were
in power, the conservative Americans had no issues with regulating the
private lives of Cannabis users, homosexual couples, or the poor who
were reliant on public welfare to survive.

Cannabis is not a recent discovery in the long relationship between
human culture and plant life.  Graves from three thousands years ago,
unearth remnants of cannabis use, mostly found amongst shamanic
graves.  The growth of the Silk Road and the subsequent cultural
assimilation that accompanied the rise of trade throughout the Eurasian continent would escort
the cannabis herb from region to region in various formats. 

 Hashish or hash oil, is still a popular mode of consuming the plant throughout
the middle east and the Caribbean.  Scholars argue that the Romans,
even the famous Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurellius, had adopted the
use of the herb in the manner of the traditional Scythian rite.

The Scythian empire, a precursor to the Islamic age of expansion, was
a perfect example of the cultures that assimilated through the Silk
and Spice routes of early human civilization.  The Scythians burned the
cannabis like incense, much in the manner of the Native Americans of
the modern United States.   Like all plant life on Earth, cannabis will outlast any narrow minded legislation that may temporarily prohibit its cultivation and use within society.  Temporarily prohibit, is the key phrase here simply put, organic life is immortal,; laws merely restrict peoples actions for brief moments in time.