Drug Possession Arrests Summary

“Drug Use, Drug Possession Arrests, and the Question of Race: Lessons from Seattle”

The article, “Drug Use, Drug Possession Arrests, and the Question of Race: Lessons from Seattle” written by Katherine Beckett, Kris Nyrop, and Lori Pfingst is about how the racialization of imagery surrounding drugs has had a major impact on institutional effects that shape police perception and practices. These effects could be the cause of the racial disparity that characterizes drug possession in Seattle. The writers begin by introducing some statistics where it is seen that there is a high number of blacks and latinos in prison for drug charges. They also present the two ways that racial disparity in drug arrest rates is explained by. The first is that

This goes along with what is stated in the second article I read where it is shown that through the surveys the authors made, blacks were twice as likely to report having some contact with the police. However this possibility of more frequent contact with the police is not due to to more criminal involvement, but instead is not explicable in terms of legal factors. The continuos focus of law enforcement on minorities who are more closely associated with crack cocaine causes the racial disparity that is seen in data presented by Beckett and her colleagues, which enforces their main argument that racialization of imagery surrounding drugs has had long term institutional and cultural effects that continue to shape police perception and practices. In other words the reality is that there is a racial bias in law enforcement whether it be like the article, “Racial Disparity In Police Contacts” states that more than likely blacks were in contact with law enforcement due to their neighborhoods having more policing. Or as, “Drug Use, Drug Possession Arrests, and the Question of Race: Lessons from Seattle” shows that focus on outdoor drugs operations and minority populations is a ineffective way of combatting the general drug problem due to these groups not having the most legal factors against there

It goes into detail how all the assumptions of why racial disparity exists are incorrect and it does so by presenting the reader with reliable data and sources. There is so much credible data that it leaves no room for doubt and the reader is safe knowing that what they just read is a well written informational and educational piece. And in a topic as sensitive as racial disparity, where emotions can get ahold of people sometimes, the authors are not shy in stating, in a very professional matter, that racial disparity is not just a by product of the system but is indeed embedded in