These routine encounters often serve as the gateway into the criminal justice system. The NYPD made 50,300 marijuana arrests in 2010 alone, mostly of young men of color. As one report noted, these marijuana arrests offer “training opportunities” for rookie police who can practice on ghetto kids while earning overtime.112 These arrests serve another purpose as well: they “are the most effective way for the NYPD to collect fingerprints, photographs and other information on young people not yet entered into the criminal databases.”
