Fewer, Not Fairer

Authors

Victoria Smiegocki, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow
Pamela R. Metzger, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow
Andrew L.B. Davies, Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of LawFollow

Files

Description

In 2019, police across Dallas County asked the District Attorney to prosecute fewer marijuana cases than the year before. This report examines whether the racial disparity in those cases improved at the same time. Fewer, Not Fairer shows that while the number of referrals declined, police were still more likely to refer a Black person for marijuana prosecution than a non-Black person. However, some cities achieved more fairness when their police departments almost entirely stopped requesting marijuana prosecutions altogether.

Publication Date

11-2021

Disciplines

Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Law | State and Local Government Law

Recommended Citation

Victoria Smiegocki, Pamela R Metzger & Andrew L Davies, Fewer, Not Fairer (2021), https://doi.org/10.25172/dc.4

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.