Comments on SPD Asks Neighbors to Defend Racial Disparity in Enforcement

What a joke. This reminds me of the Chris Rock video "How Not to Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police". Step one: OBEY THE LAW.

Its hardly a fair justice system if the disproportionate weight of the criminal justice system is applied against one or two minority groups while giving a statistical free pass to the majority of drug users

"Black methamphetamine deliverers are over 31 times more likely than white methamphetamine deliverers to be arrested,"

Anybody can make up statistics to prove a point. Forty percent of the people know that.

Morons selling drugs in public parks and on street corners are always going to get arrested first, before those master criminals who take elaborate precautions, such as doing it inside a house.

You should ask Andrew Taylor from the Miller Park Neighborhood Assn if he and Lieutenant John Hayes still sit in Starbucks across from Deano's and speed-dial 911.

At least the feds are having an easier time with convicting drug traffickers: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_crack_cocaine.html

I suspect that blacks who deal primarily do it in public which exposes them to criminal arrest while whites tend to do it informally indoors with people they know-or a friend of a friend which minimizes the risk of arrest.

As far as the meth dealing goes between the races, I'd like to see the stats between black first time offenders vs. white ones as well as black repeat offenders vs. white repeat offenders. If the black ones are doing harder time than white ones with similar rap sheets, then I believe we can make a strong case for institutional racism.

Here's betting that Dominic Holden has never actually read Katherine Beckett's study to see how these "statistics" were arrived at. Double or nothing that even if he did, he couldn't tell the difference between unbiased scientific research and a commissioned study to produce an intended result for the Racial Disparity Project.

What are we betting?

@7 "I suspect that blacks who deal primarily do it in public which exposes them to criminal arrest while whites tend to do it informally indoors with people they know-or a friend of a friend which minimizes the risk of arrest."

To a certain extent this is true. The police are still obligated to enforce laws equally. Just because I commit murder in my home doesn't mean that I shouldn't be pursued with the same vigor as those who do it outdoors.

What it overlooks, however, is that there are also significant numbers of white sellers and purchasers. What the Beckett report and other data show is that SPD focuses on specific types of drugs (crack) in specific neighborhoods (downtown) and specific types of sellers (very low-level street dealers). This results in vastly disproportionate arrest patterns. It may not be intentionally racist, but it clearly violates the equal protection clause.

Oh, and come on @8...I'm betting you're the one that hasn't read it.

This is a quality of life issue for the community it is has nothing to do with race. I've been accosted several times on Madison Street prior to the work the Miller/Madison Community did over the last several years. A crime is a crime and if you flaunt criminal behavior publicly, and without regard for children or other's safety, they should be arrested.

This post raises concerns about the KC Prosecutors' Office encouraging public input at a judicial hearing.

We might note that the other side in the case (the Public Defenders' Association)
engages in similar activity.

The cost of making an arrest should be a key factor in the evaluation of the numbers. What percentage of those arrested for drugs were caught dealing in public places (where the cost of surveillance etc are low)? If (IF!) SPD can show a pattern of arresting the least costly-to-arrest criminals first, then it has an alternative, and less disturbing, rationale for the numbers. They are simply trying to do the most with what little resources they have. Ideally, they'd have the resources they need to arrest everyone who needs arresting. If they don't, it's like an easter-egg hunt, and the kid who ignores the eggs on the ground to get the one in the tree will come home w/ a fairly empty basket. Again, I don't know if SPD can support this kind of argument.

see also: The Defender Association: Racial Disparity in Drug Law Enforcement Under Review

Katherine Beckett's 2004 report, Race and Drug Law Enforcement in Seattle (PDF, 1MB), is the first link there.

gnossos:

Not only have I read Beckett's study, I have read some of the arguments by the defense. The public defenders are, despite what our Sunil Abraham claims, arguing discriminatory intent, not just disparate impact -- they have to in order to make a claim under the Equal Protection Clause:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Protection_Clause#Discriminatory_intent_or_disparate_impact.3F

Abraham also implies that their goal is to have the police redirect some of their enforcement efforts against white open-air markets, as in the U-District. Bull. I don't know if Abraham is ignorant or dissembling, but the defense's position has been that the police are intentionally discriminating, and their clear policy position has been that all enforcement against open-air drug markets (specifically with buy-busts) should be ended entirely.

It is beyond absurd that someone from a public defender group as politically activist as Seattle's would say that it is inappropriate for a county prosecutor to notify concerned neighbors about court proceedings that may affect them. Keep in mind that she is notifying the neighbors who were similarly accused and harassed at a neighborhood meeting by the Defenders (a part of the post that Holden conveniently doesn't focus on):

"This could also get quite heated. Andrew Taylor and I vividly remember how representatives from the public defender agency accused the residents of the Miller/Madison Community of being racists themselves and promoting gentrification."