Racial Profiling and Discrimination by Corinne Grinapol

Author:Corinne Grinapol [Grinapol, Corinne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

THE REAL DEAL: RESULTS OF A DRUG CONVICTION

Marisa Garcia was driving with a friend near Los Angeles one day in 2000. She was about to turn nineteen years old and in a month would be going to her first semester of college at Cal State Fullerton. Garcia stopped for gas and left the car to pay. When she returned, Garcia discovered police searching the car. They found a small coin purse. Inside the purse was a pipe with some ash in it, according to Garcia. After police asked who the pipe belonged to and Garcia said it was hers, the police arrested Garcia and gave her a summons to appear in court.

Garcia decided to deal with this on her own, without telling her parents or getting a lawyer. When Garcia went to court, she pleaded guilty to marijuana possession and paid a $400 dollar fine. She thought her ordeal was over.

However, two months later, she learned that she had lost her federal financial aid for college. When you fill out a federal financial aid form, you are required to say whether or not you have ever had a drug conviction. Because Garcia had pleaded guilty, she had a drug conviction on her record. As a result, she lost her financial aid for a year.

Garcia thought she was going to have to drop out of school. Fortunately, Garcia’s mother found a way to pay for that first year of college.

Having a drug conviction on your record can have serious consequences. It can keep you from getting federal money to help pay for college, as happened to Garcia. It can prevent you from being able to get public housing. When you apply for jobs, you are often required to say whether you have been convicted of a crime, and a lot of businesses will not hire someone with a record. If you are arrested for a crime and already have a drug conviction on your record, you may face a higher penalty if convicted. If you are faced with the issue of how to answer questions on a job or school application and have any doubt whatsoever as to what you should answer and how, you should consult a criminal attorney.

The stakes for immigrants or undocumented or permanent residents who are legally allowed to be in this country may be even higher. Although in California it is legal to carry less than 1 ounce (28 g) of marijuana, someone who the police think may be an undocumented immigrant who is found with less than an ounce of marijuana can be sent to an immigration detention center.

Even a permanent resident, that is, someone who has a green card and is allowed by the government to be in this country, may risk losing that status and being deported, or sent back, to their original country if he or she has a drug conviction on his or her record. In fact, almost every drug conviction, except for possession of a small amount of marijuana, can get a permanent resident deported.

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