Child welfare referred Black parents to law enforcement 14,000 times in 7 years, despite no findings of abuse or neglect. After Robinson had a false positive test for cocaine that year, the hospital barred her from breastfeeding her daughter, and child welfare officials placed her under spousal supervision. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. The mothers of Black newborns are more likely than those of White newborns to be referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy, according to The Marshall Project's new analysis of child welfare data from eight states. The referrals are often the result of unreliable hospital drug tests performed at childbirth that are easily misinterpreted and produce false positive results as much as half of the time, which can prompt incorrect reporting to child welfare and law enforcement authorities.

This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the US criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Facebook, or Twitter. If African-American motorists--or drivers of any color--deplore being pulled over for a broken taillight only to be socked with more serious charges, they can take heart that the practice should disappear within the next 20 years. Not that racial harmony will be achieved or that a new polymer will make taillights indestructible. Rather, it's that human beings won't be doing the driving.