Pubdate: Thu, 13 Nov 2014
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Edward Lemansky
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n872/a04.html

MARIJUANA ARRESTS

To the Editor:

Re "Concerns in Criminal Justice System as City Eases Policy on 
Marijuana Arrests" (news article, Nov. 11):

Whatever the results of the new marijuana policing policies outlined 
in the article, the real issue is selective enforcement.

"Stop and frisk" or "broken windows" programs that target those with 
darker skin color will always have the same results. I suspect that 
if the police were to conduct marijuana sweeps of college campuses 
with predominantly white students, they would probably have even 
higher arrest statistics than they do at present.

Why is it that young black and brown men are seen by the police to 
break the most windows, or need to be most frequently stopped, 
frisked and arrested on charges of marijuana possession?

EDWARD LEMANSKY

Brooklyn, Nov. 11, 2014
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom