>Users:   login   |  register       > email     > people    


The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons
By Terry Campbell, Professor, Purdue University Global
Published: 11/26/2018

Inmateclass

Our November topic is “Minority Issues.” I conducted some additional research on this topic and came away with three very good articles. I strongly suggest you take time to review and then see if information contained in the articles coincides with your thoughts, or perhaps you may learn something new.
  • “The gap between the number of blacks and whites is shrinking” by John Bramlich. January 2018 [1]
  • “Correctional Populations in the United States, 2016,” by Danielle Kaeble and Mary Cowhig. April 2018 [2]
  • “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons,” Ashley Nillis Ph.D.June 2016 [3]
Each article contained the addition of statistical data and overviews for each topic. The Bramlich article immediately provided the reader with the following information: “Racial and ethnic gaps shrink in U.S. prison population.” The tables below, reflect the Black, White, and Hispanic race totals for the years 2009 and 2016.

Race 2009 2016
Black 584,800 486,900
White 490,000 439,800
Hispanic 341,200 339,300


At the same time, the following data was interesting; ‘In 2016, blacks represented 12% of the U.S. adult population but 33% of the sentenced prison population. Whites accounted for 64% of adults but 30% of prisoners. And while Hispanics represented 16% of the adult population, they accounted for 23% of inmates.” These numbers place the incarceration rates in a clearer perspective. Now, when we look at racial differences in prison populations we find “in 2016, there were 1,608 black prisoners for every 100.000 black adults; more than five times the imprisonment rate for whites (274 per 100,000) and nearly double the rate for Hispanics (856 per 100,000). Again, this additional data supplements previous information. One of the next questions is what contributed to this? I will look at some areas after we look at some additional information.

I feel we also need to look at community supervision statistics for the same/similar time frames.

Characteristics of adults on probation 2000, 2015, and 2016 [4].

Characteristic 2000 2015 2016
Race/Hispanic origin 100% 100% 100%
White 54 55 55
Black/African American 31 30 28
Hispanic/Latino 13 13 14


“The rate of adults under community supervision fell to 1,811 per 100,000 U.S. adult residents 2016. The rate of adults under community supervision declined from 1,872 offenders per 100,000 U.S. adult residents at year-end 2015 to 1,811 per 100,000 at year-end 2016.

The rate of adults on probation declined from 1,526 offenders per 100,000 U.S. adult residents at year-end 2015 to 1,467 at year-end 2016. The parole rate slightly decreased, from 350 offenders per 100,000 in 2015 to 349 per 100,000 in 2016.”

The data presented can be located in the ‘Probation and Parole in the United States, 2016,’ dated April 2018. (25 pages). The additional information is suggested for your review.

The ‘Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons.’ This document is very informative and provides a nice overview state by state. In addition, I suggest you take time to review the following areas: The Scale of Disparity, Drivers of Disparity, Recommendations for Reform, and

Conclusion.

I identified some reasons for the disparities from my research and own personal opinions. As you take time to review, see if these areas are in line with your own thoughts and your research conducted. I should note each of these areas alone is an article presentation you can easily write and submit for review.

Minority Issues
  • Prison gangs by race, violence, etc.
  • Programs available and any barriers (Language, design of program taking into consideration race and other minority issues).
  • Other language barriers associated with incarceration and community release. Are staff able to communicate effectively with the offenders?
  • Support groups and/or use of volunteers for respective races.
  • Social issues and how these affect inmates and those offenders on release.
  • Are health issues being addressed and programs available for medical, mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, counselling, and other related areas?
  • Education level of offenders and education programs available to the population. Also, does this include books, supporting materials, communication, and other areas that adequately address language barriers.
  • Visitation: Does corrections staff look at offenders and know if the offender has visitors, no contact with the family, and other. Do the offenders have contact with their children? This includes checks to ensure the offender on release still has family/friends support.
  • Regardless of security level, are adequate programs available and challenges identifies?
  • Offender may come from a life of poverty and how are we dealing with this in our correctional systems.
  • What was the offender’s work history (if any) and does the offender have any job skills?
  • Types of crimes and reasons for the crimes.
  • The legal system and prosecutor discretion.
  • Other
As you can see, I only identified some potential problem areas to consider for support and change. You probably noticed, many of these areas are also part of the classification process. Hopefully in the future, all areas can be addressed to help with recidivism and support concerns.

Thanks and stay safe out there.

[1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/12/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/
[2] https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus16.pdf
[3] https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/
[4] https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ppus16.pdf

Terry

Terry Campbell is a criminal justice professor at Purdue University Global and has more than 20 years of experience in corrections and policing. He has served in various roles, including prison warden and parole administrator, for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Terry may be reached at tcampbell@purdueglobal.edu.

Other articles by Campbell



Comments:

  1. hamiltonlindley on 03/18/2020:

    Hamilton loves his family of five and badminton. His favorite sports ball team is the McGregor Dodgeballers. He has worked as a foreman on a chain gang, and later in life he was an architect of skyscrapers and tunnels. He was forced to give up his career because he was terrible at math. Hamilton has a keen attention to detail. He enjoyed watching bowling on TV and spent most every weekend on the couch falling asleep. He was a demon at croquet. He also enjoyed war movies and baking shows. Hamilton Lindley is constantly helping others less fortunate and lending a helping hand for relatives and friends in need of encouraging words. He coaches different sports and provided guidance for people who needed it, and a few who didn’t want it.

  2. Eetu Hakala on 08/18/2019:

    Original Instagram Followers

  3. Eetu Hakala on 08/18/2019:

    Get 100% Orignal Instagram Followers

  4. tokafigu on 01/02/2019:

    web tunnel Thanks for sharing this information with us,ppsspp gold apk your website is really awesome. pubg apk

  5. siko11 on 12/21/2018:

    http://jnl.io/87386 https://aaa.moda/76410 https://arill.us/60977 http://goto.iamaws.com/70410 http://perkele.ovh/80217 http://wntdco.mx/38555 http://www.vkvi.net/57295 http://webhop.se/60279 http://awalsh.com/47084 http://awalsh.com/27396 http://freest.at/46622 http://yourls.site/89527 https://aaa.moda/77184 https://aaa.moda/48022 http://freest.at/28299 http://rih.co/50209 http://awalsh.com/52121 https://atho.me/3TdP https://lil.ink/96704 http://999.sh/55028 http://go.fireontherim.com/48483 https://tinyurl.com/yd5sf6m8 https://tinyurl.com/y7qkbooh http://www.abcagency.se/68880 http://wntdco.mx/91641 http://perkele.ovh/11556 https://xxs.yt/59661 https://xxs.yt/52965 http://valeriemace.co.uk/35501 http://www.short4free.us/56812 https://atho.me/3SP8 http://tropaadet.dk/25777 http://rih.co/14576 http://www.short4free.us/14914 http://tropaadet.dk/93464 http://tropaadet.dk/89863 http://perkele.ovh/62171 http://valeriemace.co.uk/10024 http://yourls.site/60939 https://atho.me/3TgG http://freest.at/34019 http://tropaadet.dk/76689 http://999.sh/19401 https://arill.us/88312 http://valeriemace.co.uk/47787 http://yourls.site/12058 http://yourls.site/36912 http://yourls.site/34663 http://go.fireontherim.com/32442 http://freest.at/75077 http://wntdco.mx/69681 http://www.xn--277c.com/12126 http://wntdco.mx/58848 http://go.fireontherim.com/75246 http://www.short4free.us/80447 https://tinyurl.com/yb3vmyl8 https://aaa.moda/65422 http://rih.co/17790 http://ralive.de/63819 http://c.or.at/31032 https://lil.ink/63347 http://www.abcagency.se/84828 http://www.xn--277c.com/92254 http://freest.at/15892 http://c.or.at/21642 http://www.lookweb.it/31658 https://aaa.moda/36326 http://www.short4free.us/93692 http://perkele.ovh/80133 http://www.vkvi.net/72838 http://rih.co/51313 http://www.short4free.us/14669 https://arill.us/98255 http://999.sh/15308 http://yourls.site/70887 http://www.short4free.us/84091 http://tans.me/50369 http://corta.co/41789 http://tans.me/88519 https://aaa.moda/88308 http://yourls.site/40583 http://www.abcagency.se/35001 http://webhop.se/92599 http://freest.at/83796 http://freest.at/86902 http://www.vkvi.net/70076 http://valeriemace.co.uk/49007 http://ralive.de/88427 http://tropaadet.dk/29663 http://rih.co/79810 http://www.abcagency.se/63261 http://wntdco.mx/26445 http://rih.co/86022 http://webhop.se/89883 http://ralive.de/21308 http://999.sh/44538 http://yourls.site/83774 http://wntdco.mx/49846 http://www.short4free.us/51762 http://corta.co/13821

  6. lewis on 12/07/2018:

    The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retailing company founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. krogerfeedback | kroger feedback

  7. eddie007 on 12/06/2018:

    If you want to know how to get an open passwords in microsoft edge operating system, then you have to get help from the Explorer's guidelines and after that you can easily open explorer.


Login to let us know what you think

User Name:   

Password:       


Forgot password?





correctsource logo




Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of The Corrections Connection User Agreement
The Corrections Connection ©. Copyright 1996 - 2024 © . All Rights Reserved | 15 Mill Wharf Plaza Scituate Mass. 02066 (617) 471 4445 Fax: (617) 608 9015