Institutional Racism in the Discretionary Legalization of Marijuana

Dr. Gary Brinker and Haoyang Liu will present their research on a conceptthey call “discretionary legalization of marijuana.” Critical race researchershave found strong evidence that many police officers practice“discretionary arrest,” for example pulling drivers over for being black andconducting unjustified searches, while only pulling white drivers over forviolations and ignoring any evidence of marijuana use. Their research showsthat the states with larger African-American populations, particularly thosesuspected of practicing discretionary arrest, are less likely to legalizerecreational marijuana, supporting this theory.