Title: Black Men and the Criminal Justice System
Headings: African American Men and the Criminal Justice System
African American Men and the Criminal Justice System
Why a disproportionate amount of Black men are in prison
Black Minors at Risk
Disparities Between Black and White Drug Users
A Quarter of Young Black Men Report Police Mistreatment
Race and the Death Penalty

Content: Black Men and the Criminal Justice System
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African American Men and the Criminal Justice System
Why a disproportionate amount of Black men are in prison
A disproportionate amount of black men are in prison. Alexander C. Kafka/Flickr
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By
Nadra Kareem Nittle
M.A., English and Comparative Literary Studies, Occidental College
B.A., English, Comparative Literature, and American Studies, Occidental College
Nadra Kareem Nittle is a journalist with bylines in The Atlantic, Vox, and The New York Times. Her reporting focuses education, race, and public policy. our editorial process
Nadra Kareem Nittle
Updated August 21, 2019
Is the criminal justice system hopelessly rigged against Black men, leading to a disproportionate amount of them ending up in prison? This question surfaced repeatedly after July 13, 2013, when a Florida jury acquitted neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman shot Martin after trailing him around a gated community because he viewed the Black teen, who wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing, as suspicious. Whether Black men are victims, perpetrators or simply going about their day, civil rights activists say they don’t get a fair shake in the U.S. legal system. Black men, for example, are more likely to receive stiffer sentences for their crimes, including the death penalty, than others do. They are imprisoned at six times the rate of white men, according to the Washington Post. Nearly 1 in 12 Black men age 25-54 are incarcerated, compared to 1 in 60 non-black men, 1 in 200 Black women and 1 in 500 non-Black women, the New York Times reported .