Blacks more likely to be arrested for small amounts of marijuana
Published February 15, 2016
by Steve Harrison, Charlotte Observer, published on WBTV.com, February 13, 2016.
During a traffic stop on Freedom Drive in late 2014, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer found $10 worth of marijuana in Morchello Pearce’s car.
Under N.C. law, the officer had a choice: Give Pearce a citation for possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana or arrest him. The officer arrested Pearce, who is black.
“It was just a little bud,” said Pearce, who works as a chef at an uptown restaurant and bar. “I know the law, and I told him, ‘You could write me a ticket.’ I think he felt like doing that because I was on the wrong side of town.”
An Observer review of CMPD arrest records shows that over the past two years, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested blacks found with less than a half-ounce of marijuana at about three times the rate of whites, or 28 percent of the time compared to 10 percent. The Observer reviewed cases in which the sole charge was simple possession of marijuana.
CMPD spokesman Rob Tufano said the department’s officers are not singling out African-Americans. The higher arrest rate for blacks is the result of patrolling high-crime areas, he said.
“While on the surface there is a disproportionate number of African-Americans arrested for simple marijuana possession, the geographical area of enforcement is a critical element of the equation and cannot be overlooked,” Tufano said.
However, the department did not explain why blacks are arrested more often than whites rather than handed a citation.
CMPD doesn’t have a policy to guide officers on who should be arrested or who should receive only a citation in such cases. Tufano said officers have “the discretion to either issue a citation or make an arrest for simple marijuana possession.”
CMPD Chief Kerr Putney declined multiple requests over the past two months to be interviewed for this story. He instead issued a written statement to the Observer, saying the department “routinely analyzes data to determine whether there is any disparate impact from law enforcement efforts. It is important to note though, that disproportionality does not always equate to discrimination.”
On Friday, Putney defended the department’s pattern of arrests in an interview with WCNC-TV. CMPD provided the station with data that showed more blacks are arrested than whites for simple marijuana possession.
Possessing less than a half-ounce of marijuana is a misdemeanor in North Carolina. The maximum penalty is a $200 fine, and both citations and arrests require a mandatory court date.
But an arrest turns up more easily on Internet searches, hurting someone’s chances of landing jobs, enrolling in college or renting an apartment. It also means getting fingerprinted, having a mug shot taken and possibly needing to post bond.
“A lot of people think of marijuana arrests as a slap on the wrist,” said Jag Davies of theDrug Policy Alliance, a national group that seeks to reform drug laws. “What a marijuana arrest does is it damages someone’s life chances. The system discriminates against blacks at every point.”
In Pearce’s case, the officer brought him to Mecklenburg County jail before midnight, where he waited for four hours before being released.
“It was all such a waste of time,” he said. “I had to sit there in jail for four hours. What was all this for?”
Corine Mack, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, said she’s heard complaints from African-American residents about marijuana arrests.
“If you have a joint, I don’t see how that is an endangerment to anyone,” Mack said. “With all that’s happening with crime in Charlotte, that’s the last problem the police need to worry about.”
Mack said she believes police feel pressure to make arrests in high-crime areas.
“The primary goal is to find someone to arrest that night,” she said.
Vast disparity
In the last decade, the nation’s attitudes toward marijuana have shifted significantly toward leniency.
CMPD has followed that trend somewhat, and is writing more citations for marijuana possession and making fewer arrests. Arrests have declined in each of the last five years, a change that has impacted all races, including African-Americans.
In his statement, Putney said marijuana arrests have declined by 35 percent over three years.
