Not that many assumptions. About half of all federal prisoners are locked up for drug crimes as the most serious offense... but 99% of them are in for trafficking.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission shows only 92 people were locked up for "simple possession of marijuana" in the Federal system in all of 2017.
In short: it's pretty safe to assume that if someone is in prison they either committed a rather serious crime, or committed a lot of crimes with a lengthy rap sheet.
You'll see that when compared to other things they are convicted for, such as murder/robbery/aggravated assault/illegally possessing a weapon/etc, the rate for which they are convicted of drug crimes compared to other ethnicities falls within the margin.
[–]oxymorphone 59 points60 points61 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[–][deleted] 15 points16 points17 points (4 children) | Copy Link
[–]Plebius-Maximus 3 points4 points5 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[+]k00ni31 points [recovered] (2 children) | Copy Link
Not that many assumptions. About half of all federal prisoners are locked up for drug crimes as the most serious offense... but 99% of them are in for trafficking.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission shows only 92 people were locked up for "simple possession of marijuana" in the Federal system in all of 2017.
The Washington Post wrote an article on it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/live-updates/general-election/fact-checking-the-first-democratic-debate/how-many-people-are-in-prison-on-marijuana-charges/?utm_term=.9b3aedb21f27
In short: it's pretty safe to assume that if someone is in prison they either committed a rather serious crime, or committed a lot of crimes with a lengthy rap sheet.
[–]Dr_Burke 0 points1 point2 points (1 child) | Copy Link
[–]Matt1050 34 points35 points36 points (2 children) | Copy Link
[+]gprime1 points [recovered] (1 child) | Copy Link
But it isn't. The gender sentencing disparity is much larger than the racial sentencing disparity.
[–]-TheMasterSoldier-Thinks dinosaurs were gay frogs 1 point2 points3 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[–]squarebe 3 points4 points5 points (0 children) | Copy Link
[+]EdwardoSuperTramp1 points [recovered] (8 children) | Copy Link
You can blame it on the pot in their pocket, or the fact that they had just robbed a convenience store a few minutes prior
[–]Plebius-Maximus -4 points-3 points-2 points (7 children) | Copy Link
[+]EdwardoSuperTramp1 points [recovered] (6 children) | Copy Link
Be smarter
[+]Plebius-Maximus -6 points-5 points-4 points (5 children) | Copy Link
[+]EdwardoSuperTramp1 points [recovered] (4 children) | Copy Link
Degenerate because I recognize crime statistics that show there isn't some innate police bias in arresting black men for drug possession?
Take a gander at this little chart
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2017/crime-in-the-u.s.-2017/tables/table-43
You'll see that when compared to other things they are convicted for, such as murder/robbery/aggravated assault/illegally possessing a weapon/etc, the rate for which they are convicted of drug crimes compared to other ethnicities falls within the margin.
[–]Plebius-Maximus 0 points1 point2 points (3 children) | Copy Link
[+]EdwardoSuperTramp1 points [recovered] (2 children) | Copy Link
Ah, so that's where your misunderstanding stems from
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