overarrest

Definitions

To arrest at a disproportionately high rate.

transitive

Examples

“The emphasis on prosecution and conviction as metrics of success leads police and prosecutors to overarrest, overprosecute, and overpunish low-level drug and other crimes in many cases.”

“Sorry, I’m Italian, and let’s say⟳ I see⟳ that Sicilian policemen arrest less people in Sicily. This could be for two reasons, one is that everybody else overarrests, or the Sicilian policemen underarrest. And can you tell⟳ those two things apart?”

“Criminal justice reform⟳ has become⟳ a national topic of discussion given recent police killings of Black men, and Jones points out that he's been a longtime activist on this issue⟳, with his experience⟳ in Palo Alto and as an NAACP youth organizer. Also, he notes, as a Black man, "People like⟳ me are overpoliced, overarrested, overprosecuted."”

“So if you live⟳ in a zip code that has been overpoliced historically, you are going to have⟳ overarresting. And we know⟳ that the overpolicing and the overarresting happens in Black and Latino communities. That's just a fact.”

CEFR level