Report

Today the American Civil Liberties Union released a new report that showed Black people are 5.5 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in North Dakota, despite comparable national marijuana usage rates. Nationally, Blacks were 3.64 times more likely to be arrested than whites. Although the total number of people arrested for marijuana possession has decreased in the past decade, nationally, law enforcement still made 6.1 million such arrests over that period, and the racial disparities in arrest rates remain in every state.

The report, A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform, details marijuana possession arrests from 2010 to 2018 and updates our unprecedented national report published in 2013, The War on Marijuana in Black and White. The disturbing findings of this new research show that despite several states having reformed marijuana policy over the last decade, far too much has remained unchanged when it comes to racial disparities in arrests. Key findings include:

• Across the U.S., law enforcement made more than 6.1 million marijuana-related arrests from 2010 to2018. In 2018, marijuana possession arrests accounted for 47 percent of all drug arrests in North Dakota.
• Nationally, in 2018, law enforcement made more marijuana arrests than for all violent crimes combined.
• Despite legalization in a number of states, it is not clear that marijuana arrests are trending downward nationally. National arrest rates have actually risen in the past few years, with almost 100,000 more arrests in 2018 than 2015.
• A Black person in North Dakota is 5.5 times more likely to be arrested marijuana possession than a white person. In fact, North Dakota ranks 7th in the nation for largest racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests.
• Although the overwhelming majority of North Dakota counties have racial disparities, Morton, Cass, Burleigh, Grand Forks and Ward counties have the largest disparities in marijuana arrests.
• Overall, these disparities have not improved. Nationally, a Black person is 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, even though Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates. In ten states, Blacks were more than 5 times more likely to be arrested.
• Overall, in states that legalized marijuana, arrest rates decreased after legalization while racial disparities remained.

A Tale of Two Countries: Racially Targeted Arrests in the Era of Marijuana Reform comes at a time when the criminal legal system is overwhelmed by the COVID-19 public health crisis that demands expedited decarcercal action to safeguard the lives of those incarcerated in and employed by jails and prisons. The reforms recommended in this report provide a road map for reducing marijuana arrests and criminalization as governors, prosecutors, judges, and other stakeholders across the country grapple with the harms presented by the public health crisis and take steps to release people from jails and prisons.

North Dakota continues to vigorously enforce marijuana laws, which disproportionately target Black communities and entangle hundreds of thousands of people in the criminal legal system every year at a tremendous cost. As a matter of racial justice and sound public health policy, every state in the country must legalize marijuana with racial equity at the foundation of such reform.

To combat the racial disparities rampant in marijuana-related arrests, the ACLU of North Dakota is calling not only for an end to racialized policing, but also for full legalization of marijuana use and possession and specific measures to ensure legalization efforts are grounded in racial justice. This includes pressing for passage of the MORE Act, which aims to correct historical injustices of the failed War on Drugs  that has terrorized Black communities and decriminalizes marijuana at the federal level, reassesses marijuana convictions, and invests in economically disadvantaged communities.

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FACTS AND POLICY REFORMS FOR NORTH DAKOTA

As in most states, the prison population in North Dakota has exploded in recent decades.

Between 1980 and 2016 the state’s population increased sixfold. In the period between 2000 and 2016 alone, the state’s rate of imprisonment jumped by 52 percent. Given this growth and additional projected increases, the North Dakota Legislature passed a reform package in 2017 and took steps in 2019 to reduce penalties for marijuana possession.

In 2018, 45 percent of admissions to North Dakota prisons were people admitted for drug and alcohol offenses. Between 2008 and 2018, the number of admissions for these offenses increased by 79 percent. Additionally, revocations of community supervision are a major driver of the state’s prison population — accounting for 38 percent of all prison admissions in 2014.

Unsurprisingly, North Dakota’s incarceration crisis has had an enormous impact on people of color, especially Native Americans. In 2018, Native Americans accounted for 19 percent of the state’s prison population but only 4 percent of all adults in the state. That same year, Black adults were imprisoned at a rate nearly five times higher than white adults.

The population of women in North Dakota prisons is also growing at an alarming rate: Between 2008 and 2018, the number of women in North Dakota prisons increased by 23 percent, while the number of men increased by only 14 percent. Seven out of 10 women in prison were there for nonviolent offenses.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

North Dakota can dramatically reduce its prison population by implementing just a few sensible reforms:

• Improve community supervision to ensure that probation is used as prison alternative.
• Decriminalize marijuana possession.
• Reform parole practices so that “Truth-in-Sentencing” laws do not require excessively long stays in prison.
• End arrest and incarceration for certain low-level charges and refer people to behavioral health centers when needed.
• Expand the availability of earned credits against a prison sentence through participation in educational, vocational, and other opportunities.

If North Dakota were to follow these and other reforms outlined in this Smart Justice 50-State Blueprint, 1,015 fewer people would be in prison in the state by 2025, saving taxpayers over $125 million that could be invested in schools, services, and other resources that would strengthen communities.

For more information, along with detailed breakdowns of North Dakota’s prison population and the reforms needed to reduce it, click here.

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