Posted on 05/07/2008 5:01:28 PM PDT by neverdem
I have been intermittently reporting on the NYPD for half a century—sometimes admiringly, as when I spent several weeks with a homicide squad on the Lower East Side, learning how (in contrast to the CIA's current methods) confessions that will hold up in court can be obtained by detectives without laying a hand on the suspect. And I've also written critically about the police, as well as various commissioners. But I have never seen such systematic dishonesty and contempt for the law as those documented in the 102-page report, "Marijuana Arrest Crusade: Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City 1997-2007," by Professor Harry Levine of Queens College and Deborah Peterson Small, executive director of Break the Chains.
In 2007 alone, there were 39,700 misdemeanor arrests for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. But such possession hasn't been a crime in New York State since the Marijuana Reform Act of 1977. Under that law, which is still in effect, an offender can usually expect to get only a ticket, punishable by a fine of not more than $100.
But most of the 353,000 New Yorkers arrested for having these small amounts from 1997 to 2006 got much more than a ticket: They were handcuffed, photographed, and fingerprinted, held overnight, arraigned in criminal court, plagued with permanent criminal records, and charged with the crime of having marijuana "burning or open to public view."
Since most of these people arrested had the pot hidden in a pocket, backpack, or purse, how did these stop-and-frisks turn into an arrest for "burning" marijuana" or having it "open to public view"?
As "Marijuana Arrest Crusade" demonstrates, this is done "by tricking and intimidating" suspects to take out the concealed marijuana, so that police officers can then claim they saw it "open to public view." In fact, a longtime Legal Aid supervisor quoted in the study says that this process happens "all the time." And such routine deception by the police to set someone up for arrest on a criminal-misdemeanor charge is perfectly legal.
There is much more detailed information in the report on the impact of these arrests, which—as described in last week's column— greatly and disproportionately affect black and Latino youths. Part 7, "Head Start for Unemployment and Prison," notes that these arrests "can limit the opportunity for young people to obtain employment and access to some schools, and for student aid."
The report also notes something that I've pointed out in this space before: "Mayor Bloomberg and other prominent politicians [and the FBI] have urged collecting DNA from everyone arrested for anything whatsoever, including, therefore, marijuana possession."
My main motivation as a reporter has never been to get "exclusives," but to get vital information out by all possible means. I hope this revelation of the NYPD's continuing disgrace will be read carefully by other reporters, legislators, and everyone else concerned with ending this racist crusade.
The findings come—as the tables and graphs demonstrate—from arrest data compiled by New York State and the FBI, along with "interviews with police, public defenders, legal aid attorneys, private attorneys, prosecutors, judges, and people arrested for possessing marijuana."
I don't get around much any more—especially to jazz clubs—because I spend so many evenings reading investigative reports, court decisions, and the like. And I've rarely seen such a lucid and fully documented report (including a 26-page "Notes and Sources" section) of such fundamental importance to the families of the young people caught up in these outrageously dishonorable practices, which have been approved by no less than three police commissioners, including the current one (and future mayoral candidate), Ray Kelly.
The report points out that the "39,700 misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests" in 2007 were "the fourth largest number of arrests in New York history." And yet, "because the New York Police Department has released almost no information about these arrests, they have attracted little media attention. To this day, few New Yorkers know that for over a decade their city has been on a historically unprecedented marijuana arrest crusade."
Now that the report has been released and featured at an April 30 New York City Bar discussion ("New York City's Marijuana Arrest Policy Thirty Years After Decriminalization"), how much follow-up will there be on this important contribution by Harry Levine and Deborah Peterson Small to the naked truth regarding the transmogrification of this city's police department? (I've known decent cops through the years who should have spoken out about this. It's not too late.)
In the March 24 edition of The New York Sun—in the article "Turf War Between NYPD and FBI Centers on Terrorism," by Dafna Linzer—Commissioner Kelly, ironically enough, is quoted as follows: "People have information, and they want to control information. Controlling information is power, and they don't want to let it go—it is as fundamental as that."
Also fundamental is Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis's requirement for combating official lawlessness in a free society: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
Will the sunlight of public exposure finally begin to disinfect the NYPD, which under this rancid policy—promulgated by several New York mayors and police commissioners—has been contemptuously violating the letter and the intent of the Marijuana Reform Act for 10 straight years?
"New York City's marijuana possession arrests," write Levine and Peterson Small, "were not of people arrested for more serious crimes who were then found to be possessing marijuana. In these arrests, marijuana possession was always the highest charge and often the only one." (Emphasis added.)
They also note: "For the people arrested, mostly young Blacks and Latinos, the 24 hours in police custody and jail is a humiliating, degrading, alienating experience."
Does anybody else in this city give a damn?
The NYPD’s Secret Crusade Against Marijuana Furthers a Racist Agenda...
Wow. Even for the Voice, that is bone crushingly stupid.
Talk about wacked out!
Hentoff is a POS.
Illegal = Illegal. Am I being too simplistic?
What happened to the rule of law?
Hentoff is not a POS. In fact, he’s one of the most eloquent, powerful spokespersons in the US against political correctness. Among those on the left, Hentoff is a level-minded, thorough, and fair thinker. The epitome of “worthy opposition”. If Hentoff says there’s a problem with the NYPD trumping up bogus drug charges, I’m inclined to take his charge seriously. I honestly don’t understand the criticism of his article. If you don’t believe the numbers in the report he quotes, then produce counterfactual arguments.
Now, I don’t have the report he’s speaking about, but it is true that simple possession of marijuana (usually under an ounce) is a summary offense in most states. There are many of us on the right who believe that the “Drug War” has been a huge waste of taxpayer funds and counterproductive to boot.
Criminalizing consensual acts like drug use, prostitution, or gambling does nothing to reduce their adverse effects on society. In fact, it just creates a counterculture that glorifies such things. If people use drugs and harm others or put others in harms way, then let them pay the consequences for the actual harm. We see no problem with charging a drunk driver with DUI without making alcohol consumption illegal (for those over 21), so why is marijuana use punished so much more harsly when every study ever done on the subject demonstrates that alcohol use is significantly more dangerous?
Ask the NYPD.
The Drug War (and Prohibition against consensual activities without a direct victim, in general) has turned us into a Republic ruled by men not law.
Do you think the no-knock raids would be approved of by the Founders who detested the evil writs of assistance imposed by the British?
Someone told me that biggest lobby against legalization of weed is the tobacco industry...........
Bump your post.
Hentoff is one of the good guys.
I’ve heard that, but I’ve also heard that Altria (aka Philip Morris) owns the biggest legal farm of hemp in the world, trying to come up with a tobacco/marijuana mix in the event of legalization. I doubt either story is true.
The fact is, if marijuana were legalized, its use would probably decline since the one thing it is known to cause is lung cancer—just like legal tobacco. Legalization in other countries has typically resulted in either decline or stabilization of the numbers of users. Abuse does not increase, however, therefore the savings of taxpayer funds is significant without any substantial negative effect.
Smoking pot or doing other dope wouldn’t be hip and cool if it were legal. For the same reason, the radical shift to make tobacco illegal is going to backfire and inspire nostalgia for smoking. Stuff like this is really stupid and it really is contradicted by both “old right” and libertarian theory (as well as natural law).
Maybe Jesse Jackson could hold workshops to train the kids to not answer questions and not show anything to the cops, failing the first option.
Being as there are no charges or indications of cops planting evidence or perjury, it doesn't appear that they have crossed the line. The onus is on the kids to walk away clean or just get a citation.
That’s not what the report is about; the whole point is that marijuana possession has been decriminalized in NY for 30 years, yet cops still use tricky methods in order to pump up their arrest stats (thank you CompStat). It’s not about false charges, it’s about deceiving someone in order to add additional charges; in other words, it’s about entrapment.
I had a cop behind me at an intersection about three years ago. I was making a left-turn and was going into the intersection when the truck in front of me slipped a gear. The light now went red. The cop blew his horn and I completed the turn. He then flips on the rollers and pulls me over to give me a ticket for making an illegal turn on a red light—after he himself encouraged me to go. It’s entrapment and it invalidates the charge—as my judge agreed. He wasn’t enforcing the law—he was just a jerk on a power trip who happened to be carrying a badge. Maybe he just needed a few more tickets—it was the end of the month, after all. Guys like that do more harm to real police than an army of Al Sharptons.
The report is basically about a not-so-sophisticated form of entrapment. It surprises me to find that NYPD cops have enough time on their hands to waste on penny-ante BS stuff like marijuana possession in the first place. All that said, I don’t think there’s a racial animus at play—I think it’s just a reflection of the particular police districts where this takes place. I’d be willing to bet that the racial breakdown of the cops themselves is pretty “diverse”.
What you said.
I'llKILLall was once upon a time "illegal". That ended up bringing us a Kennedy corupitalist cabal!
Look at what prohibition of gardening has brought us. MS13, and open borders!
If it was mandatory that anyone with a yard/windowsill/dixie cup full of dirt grew at least 2 plants, the black market/gangsters would be bankrupt in 6 months!
Mandatory cultivation is the ONLY way to actually WIN the war on drugs. Flood the market, and drown the beast.
remember that guy who turned conservative, and they published his story? this them making up for that.
Neither you nor the kids have been entrapped.
There are certain actions a police officer can direct you to do that would normally be infractions. If you follow his instructions you will not be prosecuted for those actions. It would be entrapment if the cop lied about honking AND you had not entered the intersection on the green or yellow.
The kid would be entrapped if it could be shown that the kid would never take the pot out of his pocket on his own, EVER. Entrapment is getting someone to commit a criminal act they wouldn't commit if left alone. Obviously, the kid would take the pot out of his pocket sometime.
The kid has the right to refuse to empty his pockets, and if the cop has valid probable cause, be searched, take a ticket and mail in a check.
True, this doesn't say much for the quality of the cops, but they haven't crossed the line.
In my book, he is a liberal POS.
Back in the 70’s & 80’s I knew many of New York’s Finest who toked. Then came random drug testing. To protect pensions, many stopped. Maybe they figure, if they can’t, no one should.
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