Policing the ‘progressive’ city: The racialized geography of drug law enforcement
| Author | Aaron Roussell,Mona Lynch,Marisa Omori,Matthew Valasik |
| DOI | 10.1177/1362480613476986 |
| Published date | 01 August 2013 |
| Date | 01 August 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Theoretical Criminology
17(3) 335 –357
© The Author(s) 2013
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1362480613476986
tcr.sagepub.com
Policing the ‘progressive’ city:
The racialized geography
of drug law enforcement
Mona Lynch
University of California, Irvine, USA
Marisa Omori
University of California, Irvine, USA
Aaron Roussell
Washington State University, USA
Matthew Valasik
University of California, Irvine, USA
Abstract
This article explores selective drug law enforcement practices in a single municipality,
San Francisco, where racial disproportionality in drug arrest rates is among the highest
in the United States. We situate this work in the vein of recent case-study examinations
done in Seattle, Cleveland, and New York to help build a more nuanced picture of how
the local geography of policing drugs produces racialized outcomes. Within this, we
examine how historically embedded local politics shape the varied styles and structures
of policing that result in racially discriminatory enforcement patterns. Our goal is to
begin sketching out a robust framework of ‘place’ as an orientation for examining
discretionary local policing practices, especially as they impact marginalized groups and
communities of color.
Keywords
Drugs war, geo-history, policing, race, racialization, urban space
Corresponding author:
Mona Lynch, University of California, Irvine, 2340 Social Ecology II, Irvine, 92697-7080, USA.
Email: lynchm@uci.edu
476986TCR17310.1177/1362480613476986Theoretical CriminologyLynch et al.
2013
Article
336 Theoretical Criminology 17(3)
Introduction
San Francisco can justly be characterized as the premiere progressive US city, at least
since the mid-20th century (Bell, 2010). Dubbed the ‘Left Coast City’ by one scholar
(DeLeon, 1992), it has been at the forefront of such social justice movements as sexual
and gender rights, racial and economic equality, and organized labor rights (Bell, 2010;
Issel, 1991). Yet San Francisco’s local political history is punctuated by heavy-handed,
even oppressive policies against poor, homeless, and otherwise disenfranchised citizens
(Johnston, 2011; Robinson, 1995).
The city’s dual persona is also evidenced in a sustained pattern of racialized drug law
enforcement. Official statistics indicate that San Francisco Black–White drug arrest dis-
parities are among the greatest nationally for mid-sized cities, and San Francisco has the
highest overall mid-sized city Black drug arrest rate in the nation (Beckett et al., 2006).
The disparity in arrest rates has persisted for years, as illustrated in Figure 1. Moreover,
state prison admissions data indicate that San Francisco has had the highest per capita
rate of prison admissions for Black drug defendants among the largest 198 counties in
the nation (Beatty et al., 2007; Fleury-Steiner and Smith, 2011). Blacks convicted of
drug felonies in San Francisco were 28 times more likely than Whites to be sent to prison
for their offense (Beatty et al., 2007).
This article examines San Francisco’s selective drug law enforcement practices in
order to theorize the role of place in the racialized ‘war on drugs’. By virtue of its politi-
cal and demographic constitutions, San Francisco would not be expected to rank among
the top cities in racially disparate drug law enforcement. It has a small and shrinking
Black population, and is characterized by progressive local politics, both of which would
seem to predict less, not more, racial disparity in policing. In order to make sense of this
seeming contradiction, we take an ideographic and historically contextualized approach
to our examination of San Francisco’s drug law policing. We situate this work in the vein
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Arrests per population in thousands
Black felony
Black misdemeanor
White felony
White misdemeanor
Figure 1. Drug arrests in San Francisco by race, 1997–2009.
Note: Felony arrests include narcotics, marijuana, dangerous drugs, and driving under the influence.
Misdemeanor arrests include marijuana, other drugs, drunk in public, liquor law violations, and driving
under the influence. Data obtained from the SFPD and US Census Bureau.
To continue reading
Request your trial