Monday, December 7, 2009

New York City #1 for marijuana arrests at 39,700 last year alone

If you are a criminal defense lawyer in New York City, this should hit home - especially since 65% of people now search online first when looking for a lawyer...



Police busted nearly 400,000 people for carrying small amounts of pot in the last decade, making New York City the world leader in marijuana arrests, civil rights advocates said Tuesday while unveiling a study criticizing the war on drugs.



Police officials -- who have long argued that the low level drug arrests help drive down more serious crime -- countered by saying the report's data was flawed and its findings misleading.



The study by Queens College sociologist Harry G. Levine, titled "Marijuana Arrest Crusade," accused police of purposely singling out minorities during the 10-year crackdown. It said that data provided by stat Division of Criminal Justice Services showed that between 1997 and 2007, 52 percent of the suspects were black, 31 percent Hispanic and only 15 percent white.



The findings are further proof that "racial profiling is a fact of life on the streets of New York," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told a news conference at the group's Manhattan headquarters.



Laws were revised in the late 1970s to largely decriminalize carrying small, concealed stashes of marijuana, Levine said. But he claimed police routinely "manufacture" arrests for possession in public view -- still a misdemeanor -- by stopping young black men on the street and goading them into emptying their pockets.



According to the study, arrests for marijuana possession began skyrocketing in the late 1990s during the Giuliani administration -- a trend that continued under Mayor Michael Bloomberg at an estimated cost of between $50 and $90 million a year. There were 39,700 arrests last year alone, according to the study.



The 2007 total makes the city "the marijuana arrest capital of the world," Lieberman said. The study says New York deserves that title because it devotes far more resources to arresting and jailing marijuana offenders than other large cities in Europe and elsewhere. It also cites a previous analysis of FBI data showing that five of the top 10 counties with highest per-capita arrest rate were the five boroughs.



Police disputed the study's finding that most of the misdemeanor arrests involved suspects carrying only a few grams of marijuana inside "blunts" or small plastic bags. Typically, they said, the suspects were either smoking pot in public or carrying more weight: Between about one and eight ounces.



NYPD spokesman Paul Browne called Levine an "advocate for marijuana legalization," and accused the NYCLU of using the sociologist "to mislead the public with absurdly inflated numbers and false claims about bias.""If the NYCLU is for legalization, it should just say so without resorting to smears," Browne said.



Visit our website if you want to learn how to capture criminal defense lawyer searches online



Source: wcbstv.com/local/nyc.marijuana.arrests.2.711645.html

17 comments:

  1. Nice post having excellent contents.I have been searching for this type of posts.Thank you so much for sharing.Keep blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you very good and a healthy writing.I am pretty much pleased with your good work.I surely will visit your blog again later.Keep up post continue and stay tune with us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey dude, I agree with you. It is necessary to ensure the functioning of ones website. The new techniques being introduced helps in this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Seo consultants are there for the local search optimization. When the customers are looking for their required products or services in their territory or region, the local optimization is done through specified keywords according to the geographical map. Our search engine optimized services will help you optimize your business for such local business listing searchers. It is much more beneficial and convenient to have business once you know your contiguous business geographically.
    Seo Consultant

    ReplyDelete
  5. SEO Jobs is te career oriented pltform that can make you as the right way walker, Today's it is growing very fast in the Market and covering all industries of te market as it , finance , marketing and others. affordable seo

    ReplyDelete
  6. First You got a great blog. I really like the tips you have given..It will help people like me a lot.Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice article.....This blog will helpful to all the visitors, thank you for the nice information..

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a good site to spent time on .I just stumbled upon your informative blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts. I will be your frequent visitor, that’s for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just couldn’t leave your website before saying that I really enjoyed the quality information you offer to your visitors... zumba fitness for wii

    ReplyDelete
  10. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. zumba fitness wii game

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would just like to say to all my fellow Entrepreneurs…just remember that persistence is the key to success. [url=http://www.klyque.com/index.cfm?category=24_French_Maid]french maid costumes[/url]

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice experience shared. Its not less than an interview. Great way of posting such good and informative stuff.french maid costumes

    ReplyDelete
  13. DUI attorney Sarasota

    Hey great stuff nice info your passing on

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for great information you write it very clean. I am very lucky to get this tips from you


    SEO Firms

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you again for all the knowledge you distribute,Good post. I was very interested in the article, it's quite inspiring I should admit. I like visiting you site since I always come across interesting articles like this one.Great Job, I greatly appreciate that.Do Keep sharing! Regards,
    cannabis store

    ReplyDelete
  16. Exploration has truth be told tracked down that the connection among marijuana and overseeing outrage is clinically critical (Eftekhari, Turner, and Larimer, 2004). Outrage is a protection instrument used to make preparations for enthusiastic results of affliction filled by dread (Cramer, 1998). Legit Online Dispensary Shipping Worldwide

    ReplyDelete
  17. Neuroscientists and scholars understand what the impacts of marijuana are nevertheless they actually don't completely get why (Hazelden, 2005). 420 event near me

    ReplyDelete