California police disproportionately cite Black and Latino residents for non-traffic infractions like sitting and sleeping in public, study says

News Black and Latino adults in California are disproportionately cited for minor, non-traffic infractions like loitering or sleeping in public compared to their White counterparts, according to a new study. In Los Angeles, 30% of citations for non-traffic infractions between 2017 and 2019 were issued to Black residents, though they make up just 7% of the city’s population, according the study, which was released Wednesday by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Black adults in L.A. were issued 63% of all citations for loitering while standing, the report says. And they were 3.8 times likelier to be issued citations for non-traffic infractions than White adults. The LCCRSF analyzed data on low-level, non-traffic infractions from agencies across the state, relying on information collected under the Racial Identity and Profiling Act, directly from local police agencies via public records requests, and from court filings. These citations are generally punishable by a fine, the report says, and include things like jaywalking, owning a dog without a license, standing or sleeping outside, among others. And they have long been used to police homeless members of a community, the report says. “The big conclusion is that people feel […]

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