SMU Law's Deason Center releases report that highlights role race plays in marijuana enforcement

达拉斯(SMU——新大戴德曼法学院 Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center 今天发布了一份报告， 种族差异的基础知识, which explores the impact of racial disparities in Dallas County marijuana prosecutions. This is the first in a series of reports that use municipal and county data to document trends in the enforcement of low-level drug crime arrests and prosecutions in Dallas County. The report looks at police enforcement in six Dallas County municipalities in 2018, providing a baseline to evaluate subsequent trends.

Reducing racial disparity in Dallas County marijuana prosecutions was among District Attorney John Creuzot’s early priorities. In April 2019 he announced that his office would decline to prosecute most misdemeanor cases of first-time marijuana possessions.

“T在这里 is significant racial dis-proportionality in the enforcement of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana misdemeanors,帕梅拉·梅茨格说, director of the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center. “This study serves as a baseline measure of racial disparity in low-level marijuana-related offense enforcement in 2018 and demonstrates the strong need for reform in Dallas County.”

Key points from The ABC’s of Racial Disparity include:

• Black people were overrepresented in referrals to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office for Class A and B misdemeanor prosecutions for possession of marijuana in 2018 in six of Dallas County’s largest cities. For example, in the city of Dallas, only 24 percent of the population was Black. 然而,, Black people accounted for 64 percent of the marijuana possession cases that the Dallas Police Department referred to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
• Black people were overrepresented in prosecutions for Class C misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in 2018. For example, in Richardson, only 10 percent of the population was Black. 然而,, Black people accounted for 45 percent of people prosecuted for possession of drug paraphernalia.
• In these cities, Black people were up to 7.7 times more likely to be prosecuted for Class C possession of drug paraphernalia than their non-Black counterparts.
• In these cities, Black people were up to 10.1 times more likely to be referred to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office for Class A or B prosecution for possession of marijuana than their non-Black counterparts.

Future reports will be released regularly throughout the summer and can be found at http://qilqvs.jfjd999.com/Law/Centers/Deason-Center/Issues/Prosecutorial-Discretion/Policing-Racial-Disparity. For media interviews, contact Lynn Dempsey at ldempsey@jfjd999.com or 214-768-8617.

If you would like to receive DALLAS Project reports and other prosecution related-items from the Deason Center, 请填妥表格 在这里.

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The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at SMU 戴德曼法学院 brings a stats and stories approach to criminal justice reform. 迪森中心收集, 分析, and assesses the hard data that data identify criminal legal policy and reform needs. Combining these data with the stories of people who live, work and struggle in our criminal justice system, the Deason Center makes a compelling case for smart, 富有同情心的, and sustainable criminal justice reform. The Deason Center helps criminal justice stakeholders develop and implement best practices and supports data-driven criminal justice research that have utility across multiple jurisdictions. 通过会议, 座谈会, 座谈会, 圆桌会议, 工作小组, the Deason Center fosters collaborations between scholars, criminal justice researchers and criminal justice stakeholders. The Deason Center also educates SMU students about criminal justice issues and provides students with academic and experiential opportunities to work in criminal justice policy and reform.