A MILLION DOLLAR HOODS REPORTIsaac Bryan, Terry Allen MA, Albert Kochaphum MA, Kelly Lytle Hernández PhD,

and the Million Dollar Hoods Team

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RACE, COMMUNITY, AND THE RECENT DISPARITIES IN CANNABIS ENFORCEMENT BY THE LAPD

Graph 1. LAPD Cannabis Arrests vs. City Population (2012 - 2016)

Arrest rates of houseless Latinos doubled between 2011 and 2016, accounting for 53% of the increase in all houseless arrests.

Between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016, the Los Angeles Police Department made 7,600 arrests involv-ing a cannabis-related offense. In 68 percent of those arrests, a cannabis-related offense was the only charge. Even though cannabis usage is relatively even across racial groups, there were clear disparities in these cannabis-based arrests.1 These disparities cost African Americans and South Central Los Angeles residents the most. Using LAPD arrest data, this report shows that African Americans and South Central residents collectively spent years in LAPD detention and paid millions for cannabis-related arrests between 2012 and 2016. They did so even as California headed toward statewide legalization in 2018.

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Collectively, persons arrested by the LAPD for a cannabis-related offenses lost 25 years of life in LAPD detention between 2012 and 2016. African Americans lost more time than any other racial group. This is likely a result of their inability to pay money bail for release.

Black residents were disproportionately arrested for cannabis offenses.

In total, $7,866,550 was paid in non-refundable bond deposits by those booked for a cannabis

offense.

Graph 2. Bond Deposits Paid by Race(2012 - 2016)

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Graph 3. Total Unpaid Bail and Days in Detention for Cannabis-Related Arrests by Race (2012-2016)

Cannabis Arrests LA Population

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TOTAL UNPAID BAIL AND DAYS IN DENTENTION FOR CANNABIS-RELATED ARRESTS BY RACE

(2012 - 2016)

Cannabis Arrest Count

85 - 131 132 - 190

191 - 237

238 - 291

292 - 390

90003 90011 90037south central

90044 90043

Recommended Citation: Bryan, I., Allen, T., Kochaphum, A., and Lytle-Hernandez, K. (2018). Race, Community, and the Recent Disparities in Cannabis Enforcement by the LAPD. Los Angeles, CA. The Million Dollar Hoods Project

1 United States Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2016.

Methodology. On March 10, 2017, the LAPD fulfilled Public Records Act requests submitted by Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez on March 8, 2016 and September 7, 2016. The data provided included more than twenty categories of information for all arrests and bookings made by the LAPD between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2016. For this report, we utilized the following categories of information: Race, Sex (gender), Total_Bail (the sum of all bail set), Rel_Reas (release disposition), and Home_Res (home address), and Jail Days. To calculate total money bail set, we calculated the sum of all numeric values included in the “Total_Bail” category. In determining “houseless” we coded all home addresses in which the word “transient” was present. To calculate how much was paid to bail bond agents, we estimated that for persons released on “BOND” 10% of their total money bail charge was paid to a bail bond agent. To estimate the cost of enforcement we used an average LAPD bed rate multiplied by the number of jail days. To determine arrests by neighborhood, we geo-coded and cross-referenced the home addresses provided in the “Home_Res” category with Los Angeles County

Graph 4. Cannabis arrests with a home address in L.A. city plus cannabis arrests of houseless persons (2012-2016)

Top Five Zip Codes for

Cannabis Arrests with a Home Address in LA

Graph 5. Cannabis arrests with a home address in LA city (2012-2016)

CANNABIS ARRESTS WITH A HOME ADDRESS IN LA CITY (2012 - 2016)

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CANNABIS ARRESTS BY CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT AND HOUSELESS PERSONS

(2012 - 2016)

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