It’s been a widely know fact that arrests for cannabis can make a huge number of arrests for a police department. Locking up people for small amounts of cannabis is a easy way to rack up numbers.
A new study confirmed what many knew already. Arrests for cannabis out-number arrests for violent crimes and African-Americans lead the race when it comes to arrests
Per NYT
With marijuana use on the rise, law enforcement agencies made 574,641 arrests last year for small quantities of the drug intended for personal use, according to the report, which was released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch. The marijuana arrests were about 13.6 percent more than the 505,681 arrests made for all violent crimes, including murder, rape and serious assaults.
The report is the latest study to highlight the disparate treatment African-Americans often receive in the criminal justice system, including disproportionate numbers of blacks who are sent to jail when they areunable to pay court-imposed fees, or stopped by the police during traffic stops or while riding bicycles.
Read more about the study here