The racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests is a known issue, but just how bad is it? One law firm decided to find the answer to this question using data from an analysis conducted by the ACLU. Using this information they ranked the 50 counties across the U.S. that were found to have the largest racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests.
This study focused on comparing the arrest rates of white people versus black people, and only took into account counties with populations of 30,000 or more and a black population of at least 1%. One county in Georgia was found to have a staggering rate of black people being 97.3 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. On a statewide scale, Montana and Kentucky were found to be the most likely to arrest black people for possession with rates of 9.6x and 9.4x respectively.
Which state or county were you surprised by the high rate of racial disparity in marijuana possession arrests?
Infographic by: criminalattorneycincinnati
