NYCLU to Release Report Revealing Racial Bias in New York City Marijuana Arrests

Tomorrow, the New York Civil Liberties Union will release a detailed 106-page report that analyzes the NYPD’s marijuana arrest practices. The report, an examination of the role race plays in police work, comes just days after three detectives were acquitted for shooting an unarmed Sean Bell.

The report, The Marijuana Arrest Crusade in New York City: Racial Bias in Police Policy 1997-2007, was researched and written by Prof. Harry G. Levine, a sociologist at Queens College, and Deborah Peterson Small, an attorney and advocate for drug policy reform.

The first-of-its-kind analysis is based upon two years of observations in criminal courts as well as extensive interviews with public defenders, Legal Aid and private attorneys; veteran police officers; current and former prosecutors and judges; and those arrested for possessing marijuana.

Joining the report’s authors and members of the NYCLU staff at a news conference explaining the report’s findings and conclusions will be Robin Steinberg, executive director of the Bronx Defenders, and former NYPD detective Marq Claxton, co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care.

WHAT:
News conference to release new report on marijuana arrests in New York City

WHERE:
NYCLU Offices, 125 Broad Street, 19th Fl., New York, NY

WHEN:
Tuesday, April. 29, 11 a.m.

WHO:
Harry G. Levine, professor and sociologist at Queens College
Deborah Peterson Small, attorney and executive director of Break the Chains
Donna Lieberman, executive director of New York Civil Liberties Union
Robin Steinberg, executive director of Bronx Defenders
Marq Claxton, co-founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care