Racial Disparities in the Enforcement of Marijuana Violations in the US

TL;DR

This study investigates racial disparities in marijuana violation enforcement in the US, analyzing whether usage patterns or enforcement practices explain these disparities, and discusses policy implications and fairness considerations.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that disparities are not solely due to usage differences, highlighting the role of purchasing behaviors and socioeconomic factors.

Findings

Disparities cannot be explained by marijuana use alone.

Purchasing location and frequency partially explain disparities.

Disparities increased over the last decade, especially in states with legalization.

Abstract

Racial disparities in US drug arrest rates have been observed for decades, but their causes and policy implications are still contested. Some have argued that the disparities largely reflect differences in drug use between racial groups, while others have hypothesized that discriminatory enforcement policies and police practices play a significant role. In this work, we analyze racial disparities in the enforcement of marijuana violations in the US. Using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) programs, we investigate whether marijuana usage and purchasing behaviors can explain the racial composition of offenders in police records. We examine potential driving mechanisms behind these disparities and the extent to which county-level socioeconomic factors are associated with corresponding disparities. Our results indicate that the significant racial disparities in reported incidents and arrests cannot be explained by differences in marijuana days-of-use alone. Variations in the location where marijuana is purchased and in the frequency of these purchases partially explain the observed disparities. We observe an increase in racial disparities across most counties over the last decade, with the greatest increases in states that legalized the use of marijuana within this timeframe. Income, high school graduation rate, and rate of employment positively correlate with larger racial disparities, while the rate of incarceration is negatively correlated. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the observed racial disparities in the context of algorithmic fairness.