June 15, 2016
African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at more than five times the rate of whites, according to a new report documenting rates of incarceration across the country.
Released yesterday, the Sentencing Project's latest report found that, despite promising reforms leading to reductions in the prison population, racial and ethnic disparities in the prison system continue to undermine perceptions of justice in America. Across the country, African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the rate for whites. In Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin, the disparity is greater than 10 to 1.
Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed that more than half of the prison population in twelve states (Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) is black. At the top of this list is Maryland, where the prison population is 72 percent black.
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