Title: Visualizing the racial disparities in mass incarceration | Prison Policy Initiative
Headings: Visualizing the racial disparities in mass incarceration
Visualizing the racial disparities in mass incarceration
Racial inequality is evident in every stage of the criminal justice system - here are the key statistics compiled into a series of charts.
There are racial disparities in policing and arrests:
There are racial disparities in the arrest and confinement of youth:
There are racial disparities in local jails and pretrial detention:
There are racial disparities in prisons, extreme sentences, and solitary confinement:
There are racial disparities in homelessness, unemployment, and poverty after release:
Frequently asked questions about race and ethnicity in criminal justice data
Q: Why are terms used inconsistently, such as “Hispanic” and “Latino/a”?
Q: Why are some racial/ethnic categories not represented in the data?
Q: Where can I find data about racial disparities in my state’s criminal justice system?
Q: Where can I find criminal justice race/ethnicity data disaggregated by sex?
Q: How are the data collected, and how accurate are the data?
How to link to specific images
Black people are disproportionately stopped on the street by police, while white people are much more likely to call the police for help
Among individuals who have any contact with police, people of color disproportionately experience the use of force
Black people are disproportionately likely to be arrested, and to be arrested repeatedly in the same year
Black youth are arrested far out of proportion to their share of all youth in the U.S.
The juvenile justice system confines Black youth at over 4 times the rate of white youth
For the lowest level offenses, Black and American Indian youth are confined at rates over 3 times the rate of white youth
Racial disparities in local jail incarceration rates
Pretrial populations, disproportionately Black and Hispanic, have more than doubled over 15 years
People detained pretrial because they can’t pay bail are much poorer than their peers – and the income gaps are widest for Black people
Racial disparities in prison incarceration rates, by sex, 2018
Most people in prison are poor,  and the poorest are women and people of color
Black people are disproportionately serving sentences of life, life without parole, or “virtual life”
Black people are overrepresented on death row, while white people are underrepresented
Black men and women are overrepresented in solitary confinement, when compared to total prison populations
The “prison penalty” in unemployment disproportionately punishes formerly incarcerated Black men and women
Formerly incarcerated people have very high rates of homelessness, especially women and people of color
Incarceration and wealth accumulation, by race and ethnicity

Content: Police officers may report an individual’s race based on their own perception – or not report it at all – and the surveys that report the number of incarcerated people on a given day rely on administrative data, which may not reflect how individuals identify their own race or ethnicity. This is why surveys of incarcerated people themselves are so important, such as the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails and the Survey of Prison Inmates, but those surveys are conducted much less frequently. In fact, it’s been 18 years since the last Survey of Inmates in Local Jails, which we use to analyze pretrial jail populations, and 16 years since the last published data from the Survey of Inmates were collected. How to link to specific images
Because some readers might want to link to specific images in this briefing out of the context of these slideshows, we’ve created these special URLs so you can link directly to a specific image: Black people are disproportionately stopped on the street by police, while white people are much more likely to call the police for help
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow1/1
Among individuals who have any contact with police, people of color disproportionately experience the use of force
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow1/2
Black people are disproportionately likely to be arrested, and to be arrested repeatedly in the same year
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow1/3
Black youth are arrested far out of proportion to their share of all youth in the U.S.
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow2/1
The juvenile justice system confines Black youth at over 4 times the rate of white youth
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow2/2
For the lowest level offenses, Black and American Indian youth are confined at rates over 3 times the rate of white youth
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow2/3
Racial disparities in local jail incarceration rates
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow3/1
Pretrial populations, disproportionately Black and Hispanic, have more than doubled over 15 years
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow3/2
People detained pretrial because they can’t pay bail are much poorer than their peers – and the income gaps are widest for Black people
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow3/3
Racial disparities in prison incarceration rates, by sex, 2018
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow4/1
Most people in prison are poor,  and the poorest are women and people of color
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow4/2
Black people are disproportionately serving sentences of life, life without parole, or “virtual life”
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow4/3
Black people are overrepresented on death row, while white people are underrepresented
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow4/4
Black men and women are overrepresented in solitary confinement, when compared to total prison populations
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow4/5
The “prison penalty” in unemployment disproportionately punishes formerly incarcerated Black men and women
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow5/1
Formerly incarcerated people have very high rates of homelessness, especially women and people of color
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow5/2
Incarceration and wealth accumulation, by race and ethnicity
https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/07/27/disparities/#slideshows/slideshow5/3
Wendy Sawyer is the Prison Policy Initiative Research Director. ( Other articles | Full bio | Contact)
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