Race Drugs And Policing Understanding

Name of Student

Name of Professor

Name of Class

Day Month Year

Race, drugs and policing understanding

Introduction

In society, a number of activities can be observed which make people insecure and unsafe. It is not only the activities, rather it is the behavior, perspective or mindset that put the society in trouble. In society, there are certain things that create unrest i.e. drug markets. Racial disparities, policing and inequality promoted among people, make them feel inferior and drag them towards a life of crime. Inculcating in people, seed of rebellion threatens the society and the discriminating attitude and racial disparities are among the driving forces that urge people to go against the social norms, rules, and values for attaining their rights. Color has been one of the main elements that determine law enforcement.

Discussion

Many researchers raise their voice against the racial disparity and in the given article, "Race, Drugs and Policing; Understanding disparities in drug-delivering arrests" by Becket, Nyrop, and Pfingst also points towards the racial discrimination and stigmatizing of color with certain crimes. The purpose of this article is to make people aware of the racial disparities linked with certain drug arrests. The second purpose of this article is to show the impacts of intense drug law enforcement on colored people. The third major purpose this article communicated is to shine a light on the issue of racial disparity, how color and race are focused during drug arrests.

For conducting and completing this study, researchers used to survey and ethnographic observations SPD (Seattle Police Department) incidents and drug delivery arrests report as a method for collecting data. In order to compare the needle exchange data regarding Seattle’s drug deliverers with that of Seattle Police Department’s arrest records, researchers used the method of survey. Researchers conducted this study by practically collecting data regarding racial disparity, when it is about drug selling and arrest making. Researchers collected the data regarding the drug arrestees from departments like the U.S Census Bureau and Seattle Police Department who keeps the record of the drug and ethnic identity of drug arrestees.

Researchers used a quantitative method for conducting this research and they conducted this study seeking help from different departments and police, as it relied on the data provided by them. No questionnaires were used in this study, rather, data was collected from other departments. There were no participants and this study was run by gathering data from other sources and aligning it in the form of statistical data.

Data, for this study, was obtained from multiple sources and the results of this study show that the majority of those who are involved in the delivery of ecstasy, powder cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin in Seattle, are whites. The majority of blacks deliver only one drug; crack. In the case of arrests, the researchers found that 64% of offenders arrested in the delivery of any of the five drugs (ecstasy, powder cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin) are black. Three different factors influence the drug delivery arrests that focus on crack offenders; focus on outdoor drug activity and the difference in treating outdoor drug markets. Results show a racial disparity in drug delivery arrests and blacks are substantially over-presented among those who are arrested in Seattle. Organizational practices are difficult to explain in race-neutral terms, that produce an outcome (drug delivery arrests). Finds or results seem to be in line with researchers’ hypotheses.

The given study infers that people and institutes need to reconsider their policies for discouraging the stigmatizing on the basis of color. The first implication found in this article is, this research would also enable the departments and authorities to make some reforms for checking the drug delivery arrests, in which blacks are being victimized. Secondly, socioeconomic needs to be focused and improved, as they also create differences and force people to break laws. Thirdly, this research would pave the ways for those who wanted to study reasons; drug delivery arrests involve more African Americans than white Americans. Findings point towards the three main organizational factors (focus on crack offenders, blacks are over-presented even in the indoor arrests and outdoor markets blacks are threatened alike. For future research, they point towards the role of race and how it is linked with the implementation of laws that focus on anti-drug efforts enforcement. It points towards ending the drug war, policy formation that would not discriminate on the color of people with the passage of time, would focus on different drugs that might be notorious at the time when they would be conducting their studies in near future.

The strength of this study is that it used the data from reliable sources such as Seattle needle exchange surveys, ethnographic observation reports and police arrest records for conducting this research. The researcher did well; as he did not rely on self-observational data, but rather, he took help from the verified data. Previous researchers usually used their own data that they collected from different surveys (part of the methodology) and compromised the authenticity of the conclusion. The strengths of this study include data from reliable sources, getting help from the arrest records of various police departments and provision of reliable evidence of a racial disparity in Seattle. Though, I like the whole of the research. The thing that I liked best was that the researches proved all the pieces of evidence along with statistical data, and even mentioned that records from the police department showing when they were arrested and when they were set free.

The weakness of this study is that the researchers did not do any research on their own, rather they rely on the data that other institutes and departments have gathered. Researchers in this study missed mentioning, what should be the role of the higher authorities who did not pay attention to this racial disparity in the arrests. They should have included a self-conducted interview from the officers who arrest drug dealers, so that their research could have been more authentic. Weaknesses include, no self-observatory data, authorities are not blamed for ignoring this racial disparity in arrests, and nor are any suggestions being revealed, directly. The limitation of this study is, it is limited to Seattle only. The researchers generalized this study so that people belonging to every ethnic group, could be studied in it (Beckett Nyrop & Pfingst, pp.105-137). Limitations are, this study could not be used for any area other than Seattle, could be used only for mentioned drugs and mainly focuses on white and black Americans and Latinos, neglecting the other ethnic groups. Yes, the methodology supported well, this theory. The thing that I really disliked is, it could not be used at a broader level.

It is good research work, undoubtedly, but there are areas that could be improved. The researchers could include their own self-observatory work; they could also gather information from the police officers who arrest drug dealers. They could suggest the authorities of Seattle on how they could improve the conditions. They need to involve the concerned authorities as well, so that at advanced level things could be taken into consideration and also the researchers should give some suggestions on how this racial disparity could be minimized.

Conclusion

Taking a look at the above-mentioned discussion, it could be concluded that racial disparity has become one major issue due to which blacks are being over-presented and arrested in drug dealing cases. It has been observed that on the basis of color, blacks are targeted in the community and the arrest reports of Seattle Police Department show much relevance with the hypotheses of this study; that there is bias attitude towards some ethnic groups regarding drug dealing arrests.

Work Cited

Beckett, Katherine, Kris Nyrop, and Lori Pfingst. "Race, drugs, and policing: Understanding disparities in drug delivery arrests." Criminology 44.1 (2006): 105-137.