According to a new report from the Marijuana Arrest Research Project (PDF), in the first four months of 2014, the NYPD made 80 low level weed possession arrests a day. Despite efforts to change this and Mayor de Blasio’s calling the arrest policy “unjust and wrong,” statistics have stayed the same as in 2013.
What’s more startling however, are these statistics: There have been only 8 such arrests on the Upper East Side and 8 on the Upper West Side. In East New York? There were 500. There were also 392 low level weed possession arrests in Morris Heights in the Bronx and 371 in Washington Heights. The racial bias is evident. Of the arrested, 87% were black and Latino. Additionally, 73% had no prior convictions. Prosecuting these low level crimes will not prevent bigger ones or make the city safer.
(Top image: ANIMALNewYork)
