Crime & Safety
Blacks Face Bias in Marijuana Arrests
Blacks are much more likely than whites to get arrested for marijuana even though usage rates are nearly the same, according to a report by American Civil Liberties Union.
Milwaukee County ranks about in the middle when it comes to racial disparities in marijuana arrests among counties in Wisconsin.
Blacks are much more likely than whites to get arrested for marijuana nationally, even though usage rates are nearly the same, according to a report by American Civil Liberties Union.
In Milwaukee County, a black person is 4.7 times more likely to be arrested than a white person. In Waukesha County the disparity is 12.7; Ozaukee County, 6.4; Racine County, 4.8. The national gap is 3.7. The numbers come from 2010 data from ACLU’s report "Billions of Dollars Wasted on Racially Biased Arrests."
Marijuana arrests make up more than half of all drug arrests in the United States, according to the ACLU report. "Of the 8.2 million marijuana arrests between 2001 and 2010, 88% were for simply having marijuana," the website reports.
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