ATF Targets Minorities

07-22-2014 • Next News Network

A new study shows that blacks, hispanics and other minorities are much more likely to be charged in controversial stash house sting operations. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has increased their use of fake drug busts by over 400 percent during the last ten years. During one of these drug busts, operations typically target low-level criminals by offering them a big payday through an undercover agent. Police select the targets and they carry out their mission. It's not just these borderline entrapment techniques that are a concern, but most importantly the percentages of racial and ethnic minorities that are arrested in these plots. Alison Siegler teaches at the University of Chicago law school and she believes there is something seriously wrong with the ATF practices. "The government is creating these crimes and then choosing who it's going to target," Siegler said. Reporters have asked for the ATF to open their books and share the numbers, but they claim that'