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* ACLU of Illinois…
Black residents of Illinois were seven times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession in Illinois before the State regulated purchase and possession at the beginning of this year. In fact, Illinois had the third highest rate of bias in cannabis arrests in the United States, surpassed only by Montana and Kentucky. The ACLU of Illinois noted these figures today in calling for continued vigilance to assure that remaining enforcement of cannabis in Illinois not carry on this legacy of discrimination.
The data about Illinois’ enforcement is contained in a new national report on cannabis issued by the American Civil Liberties Union. The new report, A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform details cannabis possession arrests from 2010 to 2018 and updates our unprecedented national report published in 2013, The War on Marijuana in Black and White.
“The legacy of rank bias in how we enforced cannabis laws in Illinois is clear,” said Ben Ruddell, Criminal Justice Policy Director, ACLU of Illinois. “We should redouble our efforts to ensure that this sort of racially disproportionate policing does not continue under the new State law, especially in those parts of the state where the track record is so abysmal.”
Racial disparities in a number of Illinois counties were even more jarring. Black people were 43 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis possession in Tazwell County; it was 24 times more likely in Peoria County and nearly 20 times more likely in Whiteside County.
Across the U.S., law enforcement made more than 6.1 million cannabis-related arrests from 2010 to 2018, and nationally in 2018, law enforcement made more cannabis arrests than for all violent crimes combined. Despite legalization in a number of states, it is not clear that cannabis arrests are trending downward nationally. National arrest rates have actually risen in the past few years, with almost 100,000 more arrests in 2018 than 2015.
“A big reason for our legislation was to address racial disparities in the way cannabis laws were enforced,” said State Representative Kelly Cassidy, lead sponsor of the cannabis legalization law in Illinois. “This data shows how badly we needed to take that step. But our work is not done. We need to ensure that laws around cannabis or other drugs are not enforced with this same sort of bias.”
Emphasis added. The full report is here. Adams County was almost as bad as Peoria County.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 11:57 am
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So Illinois police officers are racists? Is that the shop worn point I am supposed to take away from this? So tiring.
Comment by Echo Chamber Punchline Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 11:59 am
- So Illinois police officers are racists? -
It seems pretty clear from the evidence that enough of them are to dramatically shift the arrest rates.
But keep up the “I’m tired of hearing this.” argument, it’s very persuasive in the face of empirical evidence.
Comment by Excitable Boy Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 12:26 pm
==So Illinois police officers are racists?==
That’s kind of the lazy conclusion. Peoria county has a sizeable minority population but Tazwell and Whiteside counties have less than 1.5% African American population. Those arrest percentages look very high (no pun intended) but are skewed by very low representation. For example if police arrest 10 out of 200 (5%) African American county residents for possession, and 500 out of 46,000 (.011%) Caucasian county residents, then yes - statistically speaking, arrest rates as a percentage of total racial population would make it appear that African Americans are much more likely to be arrested for possession, even though 490 more white people were arrested for the same crime. It’s a problem that needs to fixed, certainly, but I don’t think we can just waive it off as “because all cops are racists”.
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 12:43 pm
Point of information: Every study I’ve seen shows black people consume cannabis at about the same rate as whites or even lower.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 12:56 pm
African Americans simply disobey traffic signs at a high rate is my experience. Sad but true. Not saying there may be some police with an axe to grind, but it has been mine and my neighbors observations they view Stop signs as a suggestion and make a game out of running them.
Comment by Al Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 1:13 pm
Thank you Rich. “Point of information: Every study I’ve seen shows black people consume cannabis at about the same rate as whites or even lower.”
What is tiresome is that even when faced with this argument backed by data, there is still a knee jerk “so everybody’s racist?” ridiculousness. Its lazy and says more about the commenter than the data does.
There is nothing that “makes it appear” that African Americans are more likely to be arrested. African Americans here and across this country are drastically more likely to be arrested for cannabis use even though all demographics use at the same rate. This isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact. It’s not fair and its been happening for decades.
Spare me what is tiresome. The fact that this is still happening is what is tiresome.
Comment by Sideline Watcher Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 1:16 pm
Yeah. It’s all about the stop signs. Right.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 1:24 pm
Whether or not policing in the state shows a racial bias is something that has literally been demonstrated or acknowledged in study after study and in consent decrees with the federal government.
We recently watched the Chicago police unit behind an officer that killed an unarmed black teen and destroyed evidence that implicated the police officer(s). They deliberately break, sabotage or otherwise impeded equipment intended to monitor them/support their “fact based” arrests.
In this state murders used to be solved by convicting an innocent black man that was in the vicinity without a rock solid alibi to such an extent that the state had to bar executing convicts because we’d murder a lot of innocent people. And if that’s not convincing, look at how Fred Hampton was assassinated and how folks were held accountable for that. Or even just go and read their own blogs or Facebook groups.
Whether or not it’s intentional or conscious bias or implicit bias is a moot point. The data shows a problem and we can solve the problem without establishing why there’s racial disparities in the first place.
Hold individual police officers accountable for their behavior. Impose sanctions on organizations that demonstrate a clear racial bias.
It shouldn’t be hard to fire someone that breaks the law.
Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 1:32 pm
Not every cop is racist, but those cops who are, they sleep soundly at night knowing that other cops will never turn them in.
Comment by Lake County Mom Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 1:52 pm
Just glad that personal use is no longer a crime.
Hope energies will be directed to illegal sellers.
Still some concerns about how to test people in a quick and fair matter for drug use while driving.
Comment by OpentoDiscussion Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 3:35 pm
I’ve heard African-Americans are FAR more likely to use car air fresheners, thereby debasing any of these silly racism theories. Everybody knows Black folk and evergreen freshness are very fond of each other.
Comment by Dee4Three Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 4:11 pm
==Hope energies will be directed to illegal sellers.==
Or even better, all cannabis enforcement could be deprioritized, allowing law enforcement to turn its focus to more important matters. Anyway, most people in Illinois who use cannabis are still getting it from “illegal sellers” because the regulated industry can’t yet meet demand.
Comment by charles in charge Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 5:06 pm
In addition to any racism, there is a lot more policing in Chicago than my suburb. Not sure of the current numbers. A few years back Chicago had one police officer for every 200 residents. Naperville had one for every 750.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Apr 20, 20 @ 6:07 pm