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Revisiting Louisiana Drug Interdiction: Drug Profiling in the Louisiana Justice System

NCJ Number
227289
Journal
International Journal of Police Science and Management Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 2009 Pages: 236-250
Author(s)
James M. Ruiz; Joongyeup Lee
Date Published
2009
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Focusing on the demographic profiling by justice entities, this study examined the court dispositions that were followed by drug interdiction in previous studies and sought to discover more evidence regarding the relationship between the asset forfeiture policy and drug interdiction by the Louisiana justice system.
Abstract
The results of this study were supportive of two hypotheses with absolute degrees. Hispanic arrestees who pleaded guilty totaled 43, and over 50 percent were sentenced to incarceration. When 65 White arrestees pleaded guilty, fewer than 25 percent were sentenced to incarceration. Additional analyses revealed that there was no correlation between race and confiscated drug amounts. Drug profiling by the Louisiana State Police Criminal Unit (LSP-CPU) and the deputies of the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office (SAMSO) has been through in-depth analyses. Previous findings support allegations of demographic profiling in traffic arrests on Louisiana's Interstate-10. Also, it was suggested that the most plausible explanation was attributed to the war on drugs, specified under Louisiana's asset forfeiture procedure. With the location of this study in St. Martin Parish on I-10 in Louisiana, this study examined the court dispositions that were followed by drug interdiction in these previous studies. It also attempted to discover more evidence regarding the relationship between the asset forfeiture policy and drug interdiction by the Louisiana justice system. Drug arrest records from 1988 to 1994 that were prepared by the SMSO and the LSP-CPU officers and collected in a previous study were analyzed, focusing on court dispositions. Tables and references