Title: Same Crime, More Time - Racial Disparities in U.S. Prison System
Headings: Same Crime, More Time
Same Crime, More Time
Content: The ratio of Hispanics to whites dropped from a little more than two-to-one to nearly one-to-one. For drug offenses, the decline was particularly stark: In 2016, Blacks were incarcerated for drug crimes at five times the rate of whites. In 2000 it was 15 times the rate. “In the history of incarceration in the U.S., at least since the 1950s, there hasn’t been a similarly large decrease in racial disparity in state prisons,” says Sabol. While experts are still working out what’s driving the decline in disparities, Sabol believes it’s related to lower arrest rates for violent crimes and drug crimes among Blacks. “The number of Black offenders in robbery, assault, rape cases — it’s gone down by 30 percent,” he says. “ These are really dramatic decreases.” Yet even as the number of Black men and women in prisons has declined, the report uncovered a growing disparity in the time served by Black inmates. Compared to white offenders, African Americans who entered prison could expect to serve more time than whites for all violent and for drug crimes.