Our Riverside County drug possession criminal defense attorneys were not surprised to read about studies showing that Latino and African American Californians are arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana more often than white people. In both cases, this is despite the fact that white people are more likely to self-report using marijuana, according to surveys by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Both studies were sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance and co-sponsored by the NAACP and the William T. Velasquez Institute, a think tank for policy affecting Latinos. The Drug Policy Alliance and the NAACP both support California's Proposition 19, which would make marijuana legal for adults 21 and over under state law. Supporters of the proposition cite this racial disparity as a reason to vote yes.
An Oct. 21 article from AOL News explained the earlier study. It found that between 2006 and 2008, African Americans and Latinos were 12 times as likely to be arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession as white people. In Los Angeles County, African Americans make up 10 percent of the population but 30 percent of those arrested for possessing marijuana. Most of those arrested were young men. The report focusing on Latinos was discussed in an Oct. 27 article in the Los Angeles Times, which said it used state criminal justice statistics to gather data. That data showed that Latinos were arrested more often than white people in 33 California cities, with Latinos arrested 2.9 times as often in Pasadena and twice as often in Los Angeles. This is despite the fact that arrests for serious crimes have actually gone down since 1990.
However, as Santa Ana drug possession criminal defense lawyers, we welcome information showing that there is a racial disparity in the way drug laws are enforced. Regardless of how voters feel about Proposition 19, it's clear that there's something wrong when young men of color are arrested more often than young white men, despite some evidence that white people commit the crime more often. In other areas of drug policy, racial disparities can be found in the actions of juries and in sentencing guidelines between drugs perceived as "white" and those perceived as mainly used by minorities. This in itself does not necessarily help any individual form a defense to a drug possession charge, but awareness of it can help defendants find related problems with an arrest or search.
In fact, problems with searches are a common defense used by Howard Law, P.C. against drugs and narcotics charges. Drug defendants have the same rights as anyone else charged with a crime, but police officers eager to make a serious drug arrest can forget that. If careless mistakes or civil rights violations stemming from prejudice taint an arrest, our Torrance drug possession criminal defense attorneys can use that to get the case dismissed or the charges lowered. If there is a dispute over who actually possessed the drugs -- for example, in a shared home -- we can fight back with factual evidence. If you are facing intent to sell charges, the police have likely made some assumptions based on the amount of the drug or other things you were carrying, which we can easily fight.
Never plead guilty to a drug charge without talking to Howard Law, P.C. about your legal options. To learn more or set up a free consultation, contact us through our website or call 1-800-872-5925 toll-free today.
