TruthOut10
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- Dec 3, 2012
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WASHINGTON Although crime is on the decline in the United States, the rate of arrest of Blacks continue to exceed that of Whites, according to a report by the Justice Policy Institute.
The Justice Policy Institute, a non-profit organization that advocates for reforms in the criminal justice system, examined the Federal Bureau of Investigations 2011 Uniform Crime Report and found that Blacks accounted for 28.4 percent of arrests in 2011 compared to 69.2 percent for Whites. In 2010, according to the FBI, 28 percent of those arrested were Black and 69.4 percent were White.
In other words, the arrest rate for Blacks was more than double that of Whites. At this point, researchers are unsure whether this trend will hold as crime continues to decline.
Violent offenses fell 3.8 percent and property crime decreased 0.5 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. Drug arrests plummeted 6.57 percent, but still account for 1.5 million arrests.
Spike Bradford, a researcher for the Justice policy Institute, said that, its hard to know what accounted for the drop in drug-related arrests.
Hopefully, it reflects a growth in understanding of drug abuse as a problem better addressed through the public health systems, he said. It may also reflect shrinking federal funding for police, so law enforcement departments are focusing more on protecting public safety and less on meeting arrest quotas to get drug task force funding.
JPI reported that federal, state and local government spending on law enforcement topped $100 billion in 2010, despite violent crime and property crime each falling more than 40 percent since 1991.
Criminal justice advocates say that ending the war on drugs is critical to decreasing the number of arrests in the Black community.
The main thing we need to deal with is stopping the bleeding, said Major Neill Franklin, a 34-year veteran in law enforcement and executive director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). We have to focus on first contact.
FBI Statistics Show Crime Down, But Black Arrests Up
The Justice Policy Institute, a non-profit organization that advocates for reforms in the criminal justice system, examined the Federal Bureau of Investigations 2011 Uniform Crime Report and found that Blacks accounted for 28.4 percent of arrests in 2011 compared to 69.2 percent for Whites. In 2010, according to the FBI, 28 percent of those arrested were Black and 69.4 percent were White.
In other words, the arrest rate for Blacks was more than double that of Whites. At this point, researchers are unsure whether this trend will hold as crime continues to decline.
Violent offenses fell 3.8 percent and property crime decreased 0.5 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. Drug arrests plummeted 6.57 percent, but still account for 1.5 million arrests.
Spike Bradford, a researcher for the Justice policy Institute, said that, its hard to know what accounted for the drop in drug-related arrests.
Hopefully, it reflects a growth in understanding of drug abuse as a problem better addressed through the public health systems, he said. It may also reflect shrinking federal funding for police, so law enforcement departments are focusing more on protecting public safety and less on meeting arrest quotas to get drug task force funding.
JPI reported that federal, state and local government spending on law enforcement topped $100 billion in 2010, despite violent crime and property crime each falling more than 40 percent since 1991.
Criminal justice advocates say that ending the war on drugs is critical to decreasing the number of arrests in the Black community.
The main thing we need to deal with is stopping the bleeding, said Major Neill Franklin, a 34-year veteran in law enforcement and executive director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). We have to focus on first contact.
FBI Statistics Show Crime Down, But Black Arrests Up
