[Peace-discuss] Re: [Discuss] Urbana City Council Passes Marijuana Ordinance 7-0

[Brian Dolinar]

The argument Bily made to Council
was that other offenses - disorderly conduct, shoplifting, alcohol - also
involve discretion
and if discretion was mandated for mary jane
then it would have to be mandated for all others.
I don't buy the argument - these policy-wonks should put it all in writing.

BD

On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 12:36 PM, Danielle Chynoweth <chyn at ojctech.com>wrote:

> Very disappointing.  It should be for all offenses, not just first time -
> or at least the first 3 times.  It should be for 30 grams or less (a
> personal bag or less).  And it should NOT include discretion!
>
> This is one of those painful moments of not being on council to fight for
> the right thing.
>
> It is up to the COMMUNITY to fight for the right policies and not just a
> watered down one that Champaign already has.  Now we will have to play cat
> and mouse with the police department where they play with the statistics, if
> they provide them at all.  Sigh.
>
> - Danielle
>
> On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 6:56 AM, Brian Dolinar <briandolinar at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>>  On Monday night, October 6, 2008, Urbana City Council passed an
>> ordinance giving police officers the discretion to hand out $200 tickets for
>> first-time offenders caught with less than 10 grams of marijuana (30 grams
>> is an ounce - and a felony).
>>
>> Such an ordinance is already on the books in Champaign.
>>
>> A sticking point in the new policy was whether discretion would be
>> mandated in attempt to prevent racial preferences.
>> The worry is that, for example, students "with a future" would get a
>> ticket for possession, while local black youth presumably "going nowhere"
>> would go to jail.
>> No such written policy was put on paper.
>>
>> Urbana City Council members Brandon Bowersox and David Gehrig said they
>> would track statistics in the coming year to see if the ordinance is being
>> fairly applied.
>>
>> BD
>>
>> --
>> Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
>> 303 W. Locust St.
>> Urbana, IL 61801
>> briandolinar at gmail.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Discuss mailing list
>> Discuss at lists.communitycourtwatch.org
>>
>> http://lists.communitycourtwatch.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-communitycourtwatch.org
>>
>>
>


-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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