black…MYstory

Have you ever wondered why police-community relations are so bad in many urban areas? Perhaps Baltimore can give you an idea. Back in March, a grand jury in Baltimore released a report that, up until now, received little press. However, the suggestions offered by the report are powerful. Among them, is a recommendation that, by year’s end, the city cut the rate of arrest that result in no charges by 50%.

Yes, you heard right, people are being arrested for things that result in no criminal charges.

So, what you have are people “in the system” as having been arrested, which can have negative impacts on their livelihoods. Each time something like this happens, the party in question is forced to pay a $37 fee in order to get a record expunged.

The jury also recommended that this expungement fee be waived and, instead, a mechanism be put in place to automatically expunge these types of arrests after 30 days.

In 2005, 21,172 African Americans were arrested, but not charged with a crime. That’s over 21,000 in “the system” who, in the eyes of the law, committed no crime. This also means that jobs and educational opportunities (both current and future) are being put at risk needlessly.

With it being an election year, let’s hope enough of a fuss can be raised about this in the next few weeks to embarass some people into quick action.

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