Racism in police fines

[GarfieldtheCat]

http://priceonomics.com/the-fining-of-black-america/

Interesting article based on analyzing all the data from over 20,000 cites/areas. Guess what the result was?

African-Americans are fined at higher rates then white people. Gee, what a shock right? Racism in action.

Interesting enough, increase in fines does NOT match poverty levels, so African-American's are being fined more regardless of their income level.

We found one demographic that was most characteristic of cities that levy large amounts of fines on their citizens: a large African American population. Among the fifty cities with the highest proportion of revenues from fines, the median size of the African American population—on a percentage basis—is more than five times greater than the national median.

Quote:

FBI admits it also:

A more likely explanation is that they are more highly policed and that, as has been acknowledged by the Director of the FBI, African Americans suffer from heavier legal penalties due to the implicit bias of police officers.

More proof of systemic racism among police:

Although African Americans and Whites report smoking marijuana at the same rates, African Americans are 3.7 times more likely get arrested for marijuana possession.

Despite equal numbers of people smoking marijuana, African-Americans get arrested over 3 times more often then white people. Racism in action.

Selling drugs? Yup, systemic racism there as well:

An analysis of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 6.6% of White people between the ages of 12 and 25 have sold drugs compared to 5.0% of Blacks. Yet Black people are 3.6 times more likely get arrested for selling drugs.

Perhaps our usual cop apologists can explain these statistically significant results amount over 20,000 cites. Doesn't seem like a few bad apples now does it?

If cops aren't systemically racist, how do they explain these results?

 

[Painman]

Minority communities continue to be grist for the prison industrial sausage grinder, because our leaders are too fat, complacent and lazy to imagine any better solutions.

Thanks, Obama! And thanks in advance, Hillary!

 

[thraashman]

Minority communities continue to be grist for the prison industrial sausage grinder, because our leaders are too fat, complacent and lazy to imagine any better solutions.

Thanks, Obama! And thanks in advance, Hillary!

Republican Tom Cotton (you know, the one who convinced 46 Senators to commit treason with him) thinks we have an under incarceration problem

In 2011 Republicans block a commission to study prison reform

Bipartisan prison reform is currently held up in the Senate largely by Republican Jeff Sessions and talking mass of anal warts Ted Cruz

 

[buckshot24]

Republican Tom Cotton (you know, the one who convinced 46 Senators to commit treason with him) thinks we have an under incarceration problem

In 2011 Republicans block a commission to study prison reform

Bipartisan prison reform is currently held up in the Senate largely by Republican Jeff Sessions and talking mass of anal warts Ted Cruz

Some people are simply going to commit more crimes when they are released, are you ok with that?

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Interesting article based on analyzing all the data from over 20,000 cites/areas. Guess what the result was?

African-Americans are fined at higher rates then white people. Gee, what a shock right? Racism in action.

If cops aren't systemically racist, how do they explain these results?

Are these results adjusted for the difference in rates that crimes are commited by blacks? The truth is that in a lot of places like america, even when adjusted for % of the population, blacks commit more crime that any other racial group and it tends to be black and black most of the time. Given that you'd expect arrests and fines and things of that nature to be bias towards blacks.

 

[buckshot24]

Are these results adjusted for the difference in rates that crimes are commited by blacks? The truth is that in a lot of places like america, even when adjusted for % of the population, blacks commit more crime that any other racial group and it tends to be black and black most of the time. Given that you'd expect arrests and fines and things of that nature to be bias towards blacks.

Also, big cities have higher black populations, 18% doesn't seem ridiculous to me.

 

[lopri]

There should be more black police officers. Way more.

 

[DrPizza]

Are these results adjusted for the difference in rates that crimes are commited by blacks? The truth is that in a lot of places like america, even when adjusted for % of the population, blacks commit more crime that any other racial group and it tends to be black and black most of the time. Given that you'd expect arrests and fines and things of that nature to be bias towards blacks.

Uh, struggling with reading or something? It's right in the thread - blacks and whites smoke pot at roughly the same rate, but blacks are nearly 4 times as likely to be arrested for it. Apparently, the police see a white kid smoking pot, and "kids will be kids." But, see a black kid smoking pot, and "omg! Good thing I caught him before he turned to a life of violent crime. You're under arrest!"



Incidentally, my intuition tells me that this:

An analysis of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 6.6% of White people between the ages of 12 and 25 have sold drugs compared to 5.0% of Blacks. Yet Black people are 3.6 times more likely get arrested for selling drugs.

is bullshit. 1 in 15 between the ages of 12 and 25 have sold drugs? Maybe if they're including caffeine as a drug, and kids who worked someplace where they sold coffee.

 

[buckshot24]

Uh, struggling with reading or something? It's right in the thread - blacks and whites smoke pot at roughly the same rate, but blacks are nearly 4 times as likely to be arrested for it.

Are there other differences in behavior you're not accounting for or ignoring that could be a contributing factor?

 

[1prophet]

There should be more black police officers. Way more.

Having Black Cops and Black Mayors Doesn't End Police Brutality
https://newrepublic.com/article/121667/black-cops-black-mayors-didnt-save-baltimore-police-abuse

In his 1997 book, The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, “The Wire” creator David Simon explained why Baltimore policing in the 1990s benefitted little from the addition of more black cops in the preceding decades:

A white patrolman in West Baltimore has to at least… take into account that he is messing with black folk in a majority black city. Not so his black counterparts, for whom brutality complaints can be shrugged off… because the racial aspect is neutralized.
​

FBI director James Comey has suggested that distrust between black communities and most police, regardless of their race, has to do with officers’ unconscious racial bias. According to the Baltimore Sun, Comey elaborated in an address at Georgetown University in February. “Police officers of all races can easily become cynical about the people they are sworn to protect, and that leads them to fall back on ‘mental shortcuts’ that become ‘almost irresistible’ when most of the suspects they arrest are black males,” Comey said. “After a while they can come to see any black man they encounter as a potential criminal—and to react based on that assumption.”

 

[ElFenix]

Also, big cities have higher black populations, 18% doesn't seem ridiculous to me.

it doesn't say big cities, it says cities that generate the most revenue as a % from fines.

Among the fifty cities with the highest proportion of revenues from fines

 

[MajinCry]

Gi'es the stats for Native Americans as well. Knowin' about those starlight tours, they probably have it pretty shit.

 

[Greenman]

So we can say that blacks commit more traffic violations than whites or Hispanics, and miss more court dates.
The observation that city's with higher black populations have stiffer fines isn't surprising if we accept that blacks commit more minor violations. I would expect the increased fines to be a deterrent.

Perhaps I'm not understanding the information as presented, but it doesn't appear that we can simply say it's racism and stop writing tickets.

 

[buckshot24]

it doesn't say big cities, it says cities that generate the most revenue as a % from fines.

Ahh, thanks.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Uh, struggling with reading or something? It's right in the thread - blacks and whites smoke pot at roughly the same rate, but blacks are nearly 4 times as likely to be arrested for it. Apparently, the police see a white kid smoking pot, and "kids will be kids." But, see a black kid smoking pot, and "omg! Good thing I caught him before he turned to a life of violent crime. You're under arrest!"



Incidentally, my intuition tells me that this: is bullshit. 1 in 15 between the ages of 12 and 25 have sold drugs? Maybe if they're including caffeine as a drug, and kids who worked someplace where they sold coffee.

10 people smoke pot.

5 Do so in their parents basement
5 Do so while walking around town

Probability speaking, which are more likely to be found, and ticketed/arrested? Please do tell! But go ahead and act like police have a Spider-sense of "I think they are smoking pot in that building of black people. I must investigate further!"

 

[MixMasterTang]

Uh, struggling with reading or something? It's right in the thread - blacks and whites smoke pot at roughly the same rate, but blacks are nearly 4 times as likely to be arrested for it. Apparently, the police see a white kid smoking pot, and "kids will be kids." But, see a black kid smoking pot, and "omg! Good thing I caught him before he turned to a life of violent crime. You're under arrest!"



Incidentally, my intuition tells me that this: is bullshit. 1 in 15 between the ages of 12 and 25 have sold drugs? Maybe if they're including caffeine as a drug, and kids who worked someplace where they sold coffee.

Well, I would imagine quite a few people who have smoked m.j. have bought a bag for a friend or sold them half of their bag. I would imagine that is where that # comes from, not from being a full fledged dealer.