Who gets arrested for marijuana use? The perils of being poor and black

ABSTRACT

We explore the relationship between income, race and the probability of being arrested. Our data set is comprised of individuals who have all violated federal marijuana laws, some of whom have been arrested. We reason that the cost of arresting a poor individual with diminished social status is lower. Our empiricism reveals that the probability of arrest is higher when the law breaker is poor and African American.

KEYWORDS:

• Arrests
• race
• income
• booked

JEL CLASSIFICATIONS:

• K4
• J15

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.