State knowledge exhibits {that a} Black Minnesotan is sort of 5 instances extra prone to be charged for a marijuana-related offense than a white one, including extra proof to the stark racial disparity that continues within the enforcement of the nation’s drug legal guidelines.
A Black particular person in Minnesota was almost 5 instances extra prone to be charged with a marijuana offense … [+]
According to data from the Minnesota Bureau of Felony Apprehension, police made arrests for marijuana crimes 6,055 instances in 2021, with almost 90% of instances for costs of easy possession. As a result of marijuana has been decriminalized in Minnesota, most of the costs for possession are issued within the type of a quotation much like a site visitors ticket fairly than an arrest, however the BCA knowledge don’t distinguish between the 2.
When analyzed by race, the information present that there have been 0.67 marijuana offenses per 1,000 white Minnesotans and three.19 arrests for each 1,000 Black Minnesotans, indicating {that a} Black particular person is about 4.8 instances extra prone to be arrested for a marijuana cost, according to an analysis by the Minnesota Reformer. The racial disparity exists regardless of other evidence that exhibits that charges of hashish use are comparatively equal among the many two racial teams.
Twin Cities Had Highest Racial Hole In Pot Arrests
Minneapolis and St. Paul confirmed the very best racial disparity in marijuana costs in comparison with different areas of the state. Black residents had been almost eight instances extra seemingly than white residents to be charged with a pot offense in Hennepin and Ramsey counties final yr, regardless of state knowledge that present roughly equal charges of marijuana use between them.
Minneapolis Minnesota Downtown and the Stone Arch Bridge at Sundown
Police in Minneapolis ignited controversy in 2018 when a Hennepin public defender revealed in a court docket movement {that a} police initiative in opposition to low-level marijuana gross sales resulted within the arrests of 46 Black people out of a complete of 47 defendants. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey ordered police to finish the stings over considerations of racial profiling and expressed his assist for hashish coverage reform.
“I imagine strongly that marijuana ought to be a lowest-level enforcement precedence and that it ought to be absolutely legalized on the state stage,” Frey said in a statement on the time. “The truth that racial disparities are so widespread nationwide within the enforcement of marijuana legal guidelines is without doubt one of the causes I assist full legalization.”
Whereas racial disparities in marijuana arrests exist in each state, even those who have legalized leisure marijuana, Minnesota’s discrepancy exceeds the nationwide common. A 2020 report from the American Civil Liberties Union exhibits that throughout the nation, Black people had been a mean of three.6 instances extra prone to be arrested for pot. The brand new knowledge from the BCA is an enchancment over the ACLU’s 2020 figures, which confirmed {that a} Black particular person was 5.4 instances extra seemingly than a white particular person to be charged with a marijuana offense between 2010 and 2018.
The racial disparity within the enforcement of marijuana legal guidelines continues regardless of hashish coverage reform measures. The ACLU report confirmed that whereas the states which have legalized leisure marijuana have seen a discount within the racial disparity, it continues, nonetheless. In Colorado, the primary state to legalize pot to be used by adults in 2012, Black people had been 1.5 instances extra prone to be arrested for marijuana, the bottom racial hole reported nationwide.
