Report by Professor Jeff Fagan Finds Discrimination in Chicago Drug Stings

A new report by Columbia Law School Professor Jeffrey Fagan reveals that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) intentionally targeted minorities in Chicago drug stings over the past decade.

Since 2006, ATF agents have arrested 94 people in undercover narcotics operations near Chicago, with 91 percent being black or Hispanic. Fagan’s research finds there’s only a 0.1 percent chance that federal agents could have selected so many minority targets at random. These numbers show “the ATF is discriminating on the basis of race,” Fagan said in his report, originally filed in September. USA Today first wrote about the report’s findings earlier this week.

The Department of Justice insisted the report, the most comprehensive analysis of its kind on ATF tactics, be sealed when it was filed in federal court in Chicago. The report was unsealed following a request by USA Today.

Earlier this month, Fagan, a crime, law, and social policy expert, delivered a talk titled “Policing the Police: The Future of Reform” during the first fall 2016 installment of the “Lawyers, Community, and Impact” series. 

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Posted September 29, 2016