美国国家公共电台 NPR Legalizing Marijuana: It Changes Policing, But May Leave Racial Disparities

Legalizing Marijuana: It Changes Policing, But May Leave Racial Disparities 

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Marijuana legalization is on the ballot² in five states this year, but it's been legal in Washington and Colorado for four years. With voters in other states facing this choice, we wanted to look at how policing is changing in a state that legalized marijuana. Austin Jenkins of the Northwest News Network in Olympia, Wash., and April Dembosky of member station KQED in San Francisco bring us this report.

APRIL DEMBOSKY, BYLINE³: I'm taking a walk around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Joggers are passing me on the right, and I dodge⁴ a couple strollers on the left. Along with the smell of sweat and goose poop, weed is an equally present aroma⁵. Police seem to take light-up-and-let-live attitude here. But when I cross paths with Nashanta Williams out walking her dog, she says it's not like this in other parts of the city.

NASHANTA WILLIAMS: I have been pulled over and been told that my car smells like marijuana and put on the sidewalk and had my vehicle searched. And I felt like they were - they were fishing.

DEMBOSKY: This was about two years ago. Williams was driving in East Oakland down High Street - no joke. William says in those African-American neighborhoods, people get profiled.

WILLIAMS: Back then, I drove a '94 Buick, so I think the stereotype⁶ falls into the play, too - old car, smells like weed. What has she got going on? Who is she with?

DEMBOSKY: Defense⁷ attorney James Clark's office window looks down on the lake. He says this stop and smell practice happens across the state. In California, the smell of marijuana gives police probable cause to search someone's entire vehicle. So if cops find something bigger, like guns or stolen property, Clark says that can turn a traffic stop into a felony.

JAMES CLARK: You can imagine that if you're trying to advance your career by searching cars along the freeway that this is a tool that would be difficult to resist passing up.

DEMBOSKY: Both Clark and the Nashanta Williams are wondering if recreational pot gets legalized in California, could that be the end of this stop-and-smell practice? So Austin, that's what's on the minds of voters in California. Did policing change up there in Washington state?

AUSTIN JENKINS, BYLINE: The short answer is yes, it did. And to get a sense of this, I went for a ride-along with a Washington State Patrol sergeant⁸ named Nate Hovinghoff.

NATE HOVINGHOFF: We'll clear here, and we'll head down 205 and head east on 14...

JENKINS: Sergeant Hovinghoff has been with the patrol for 11 years and works along the scenic⁹ Columbia River Gorge¹⁰ that divides Washington and Oregon, another state that recently legalized pot.

HOVINGHOFF: Yeah, so prior to legalization, in Washington state, odor alone was enough to arrest.

JENKINS: If Hovinghoff pulled over a vehicle, say, for speeding and smelled marijuana, that gave him license¹¹ to investigate further.

HOVINGHOFF: In my experience as a trooper, probably 90 percent of my felony arrests, they started with the odor of marijuana.

JENKINS: But once pot was legalized in Washington state, the rules of engagement changed.

HOVINGHOFF: Now when I stop a vehicle and I go up and I smell marijuana, if they're 21 years or over, it doesn't mean automatically a crime's occurred.

JENKINS: So April, Hovinghoff says as long as the driver of the car is compliant¹² with the law and not impaired¹³ - and that's key - it's basically, have a nice day.

DEMBOSKY: Yeah, but folks like Nashanta Williams aren't convinced that it will go down like that in California. The state already has liberal marijuana laws, but Williams doesn't think everyone will get a fair shake if pot is formally legalized.

WILLIAMS: What do I know will happen is they will use it as an in and probably try to harass¹⁴ whatever person of color is smoking because what is legal for one is not necessarily what's legal for all.

DEMBOSKY: In fact, recent data from police stops in Oakland show that African-Americans are more likely than whites to be searched, handcuffed and arrested.

JENKINS: And that question of disparity is very much in the minds of researchers who are tracking the effects of marijuana legalization. Mike Males is with the Center on Juvenile¹⁵ and Criminal Justice. He released a study earlier this year that's been widely cited. It shows that while marijuana arrests dropped dramatically in Washington state, African-Americans are still two times more likely to be arrested for marijuana-related offenses¹⁶.

MIKE MALES: So there's still a large racial discrepancy¹⁷. It doesn't solve that. It does reduce the overall impact of marijuana arrest, but it doesn't change the racial discrepancy as much.

JENKINS: The bottom line, says Males, who spoke¹⁸ via Skype, if one of the goals is to reduce marijuana-related arrests, then legalization appears to accomplish that.

DEMBOSKY: But it sounds like he's also saying it's not going to resolve disparities in how the law is enforced or applied¹⁹. For NPR News, I'm April Dembosky in Oakland, Calif.

JENKINS: And I'm Austin Jenkins in Olympia, Wash.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 dodge   

v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计

参考例句：

• A dodge behind a tree kept her from being run over.她向树后一闪，才没被车从身上辗过。
• The dodge was coopered by the police.诡计被警察粉碎了。

5 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

6 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

9 scenic   

adj.自然景色的，景色优美的

参考例句：

• The scenic beauty of the place entranced the visitors.这里的美丽风光把游客们迷住了。
• The scenic spot is on northwestern outskirts of Beijing.这个风景区位于北京的西北远郊。

10 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。

11 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

12 compliant   

adj.服从的，顺从的

参考例句：

• I don't respect people who are too compliant.我看不起那种唯命是从，唯唯诺诺的人。
• For years I had tried to be a compliant and dutiful wife.几年来，我努力做一名顺从和尽职尽职的妻子。

13 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

15 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

16 offenses   

n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势

参考例句：

• It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

17 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

18 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

19 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。