The Disconnect: Why is the rate for Black Incarceration so High?

Introduction

Currently, the American population sits at 312,000,000. The number of Americans currently behind bars is over 2,000,000 strong and climbing. In a totally fair world, that population would closely resemble the general population, but this world is not fair. Currently over forty percent of the United States prison population consists of African-Americans. This is from a group that makes up only twelve percent of the total United States population. Blacks find themselves in prison five to ten times more frequently than whites and Hispanics. One group will tell you this tragedy is the result of a corrupt and racist legal system in America. Another will tell you it is directly related to blacks simply committing more crimes. Yet another group believes that it is all caused by an increased level of poverty amongst African-American communities. This is a complex problem and cannot be explained away with a quick and easy answer. To get a better grasp of the root cause involved here, I will be looking at what the numbers actually show us regarding the prison population and the demographics thereof. I will also be researching the correlation between poverty and the relative crime rate. Thirdly, a look will be given to the actual crime rates as related to blacks, Hispanics, and whites to compare whether blacks truly are committing more crimes. Lastly, we will look at the enforcement, arrest, and conviction rates of the different races to see if there is any credibility in the theory that more blacks are sentenced to longer prison terms due to racism. The goal of this paper is to explore the causes behind such an astronomically high rate of imprisonment for blacks in comparison to everyone else and attempt to reach a conclusion as to what the actual problem is and how to fix it. This is a problem that I believe has its roots in the long and sordid history of blacks in America. Relations have made a vast improvement today, however, contrary to the beliefs of some, I believe we are still too close to the problem era to be fully clear of its impact.

A Comparison of Numbers

            America is home to the largest prison population in the world. Out of a total of 10.1 million prisoners worldwide, America is home to 2.29 million prisoners (World Prison Population 2011, 2011). We also are owners of the highest rate of imprisonment with 743 out of every 100,000 people in prison, compared to a worldwide average of 146 per 100,000. How did America, Land of the Free^TM, end up with so many imprisoned? Today’s prison population represents a tenfold increase in prison population over the last thirty years (US Prison Population Tops 2.4 Million, 2011). Why has the prison population sky rocketed so quickly? Certainly there is not ten times the crime rate or population to support this prison population. What reasons might there be? The same article above gives mandatory minimum sentencing a piece of the blame along with politicians wanting to appear tough on crime creating harsher sentencing laws. These policies were originally written to protect people from serious and violent crimes, yet violent crime has remained fairly steady even as prison populations explode. Almost three fourths of new inmates have been nonviolent offenders (Incarcerated America, 2003). Between 1980 and 2000, the number of drug related offenders in prison has increased by a factor of twelve as a result of the war on drugs. The most vulnerable tend to be minorities at the bottom of the income bracket.

A Look at Inequality

             There were 37,131,771 African Americans living in America as of the time of the 2008 Census estimates. That accounts for 12.33% of all Americans. Blacks make up the second largest minority group now. Hispanics are the largest with 45,432,158 members, or 15.08% of America. Whites are still the majority and by quite the wide margin: 198,420,355 people and 65.87% of the population. Asians make up a very small portion of America with only 13,164,169 people comprising 4.37% (Bowman, 2010). A fair world would show a similar break down of race and ethnicity in the prison system. If this nation truly was post-racial as so many have been saying, the numbers would reflect it. However, what we see in the numbers is far from the non-incarcerated reality. In the prison world, blacks make up 43.7% of the population. This bit of over representation follows the minorities, but none to the huge impact it has on blacks. The only group that shows a lower percentage in prison than in the rest of America is whites (Prison Policy Iniative, 2004). The percentage of blacks in prison exceeds the percentage in the general population in every single state in the union. In twenty states, blacks find themselves incarcerated at a rate five times higher than in the general population. Nearly one in four black people are either in prison, on parole, or on probation. The rate of incarceration for black men aged 18-64 is more than seven times higher than that of white men of the same age range (Incarcerated America, 2003). When seeking to understand how we find ourselves at this stage, there are only a couple options. Either black people are indeed committing ten times as much crime as white people or there is some form of bias in the system.