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Wow…what a shock (sarcasm).

Stark Racial Biases Revealed In NYPD Arrest Practices

A new study has proven, once again, that cops more frequently pursue and more harshly punish offenders of color. But surely we didn’t need additional facts and figures to point out where Black and brown folks stand with one-time… Via HuffPost:

Three decades ago, New York’s Times Square was a symbol of vice and violence. Today, cops in the area worry about street performers who dress up like Elmo.

The city’s transformation from crime capital to urban Disneyland is one of America’s great success stories, but a less encouraging narrative has accompanied it. As a new report shows, arrests for petty offenses like turnstile-jumping and pot possession have shot up since 1980, disproportionately affecting young black and Latino men.

The report, released Tuesday by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, shows that the nation’s largest police force has been arresting more people for misdemeanors, a category that includes low-level crimes, from prostitution to minor drug offenses to dancing in the subway.

Since 1980, the percentage of New Yorkers arrested for misdemeanors has tripled, according to the study. The number of blacks arrested for misdemeanors nearly doubled to 104,659 in 2013, from 56,152 in 1990. Latinos saw the number rise even more dramatically, to 78,733 from 30,885. Police arrested 28,996 whites for misdemeanors in 2013, compared with 21,815 in 1990.

In New York, civil rights advocates have long criticized the police for stopping and frisking disproportionate numbers of black and Latino people. Mayor Bill de Blasio took office in January after promising to reform the practice.

But the new mayor appointed as the police commissioner William J. Bratton, known for his hard-nosed approach to minor offenses. That strategy came under intense scrutiny last summer, after the police grabbed Staten Island grandfather Eric Garner in a chokehold while attempting to arrest him for selling untaxed cigarettes. Garner died soon after. Critics say Bratton’s “broken windows” strategy lands hard on low-income people and people of color.

We really wish they’d stop releasing reports reiterating the obvious and make steps toward change…

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