NYPD targets black, Hispanic and poor neighborhoods for arrests for smoking marijuana in public. New York City

“Arrests for smoking marijuana in public have shifted from occurring mostly in rich, central areas of New York City (NYC) in the early 1990’s, to occurring mostly in poor, black or Hispanic areas of the city in 2003. A study published today in the open access journal Harm Reduction Journal reveals that arrests for smoking marijuana in public now occur mostly in the black, Hispanic or poor areas of New York City, especially in the Hispanic areas of the Bronx, the black and Hispanic sections of Brooklyn and in Queens.

The authors conclude that these arrests, which increased throughout the 1990’s to reach a peak of 51,000 in 2000, do not seem to be primarily serving the goals of ‘quality-of-life’ policing - which aims to penalise even minor criminal offences in highly public locations - anymore. The tendency to target areas populated by poor or ethnic communities might be exacerbating race relations in NYC, say the authors. The authors suggest that the NYPD should issue Desk Appearance tickets, court summons or simply ask smokers to stop smoking and discard their drugs, instead of arresting individuals smoking marijuana in public.”

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