Racial criminalization and the origins of the Los Angeles drug wars

This thesis examines how the Los Angeles Police Department increased their narcotics drug arrests in neighborhoods of color in 1956-1957. Drawing from historical and social scientific accounts of racialized criminalization and federal drug policies of the 1950s, I examine how LAPD’s narcotics arrests were used as a tool of racial segregation and disproportionately affected African and Mexican American neighborhoods. Specifically, I discuss how Police Chief William H. Parker had a significant impact on the racial and class boundaries that were enforced by the newly restructured LAPD. I argue that the racially neutral process of gathering statistical data of arrests enabled the LAPD to book more people of color for illegal narcotics. Finally, I examine how academic publications further justified racialized constructions of Black and Latino criminality in Los Angeles.