Title: Racial disparities in the criminal justice system: Eight charts illustrating how it’s stacked against blacks.
Headings: What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System
What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System
These eight charts suggest there are racial disparities at every phase of the justice system.
1. Black Americans are more likely to have their cars searched.
2. Black Americans are more likely to be arrested for drug use.
3. Black Americans are more likely to be jailed while awaiting trial.
4. Black Americans are more likely to be offered a plea deal that includes prison time.
5. Black Americans may be excluded from juries because of their race.
6. Black Americans are more likely to serve longer sentences than white Americans for the same offense.
7. Black Americans are more likely to be disenfranchised because of a felony conviction.
8. Black Americans are more likely to have their probation revoked.

Content: Researchers found that North Carolina prosecutors were excluding black people from juries in capital cases at twice the rate of other jurors, even when controlling for legitimate justifications for striking jurors, such as employment status or reservations about the death penalty. Other studies have shown that excluding black people from juries can influence deliberations and verdicts. For example, black defendants in capital cases with white victims are less likely to receive a death sentence if there is a black juror. Source: Barbara O’Brien and Catherine M. Grosso, “Report on Jury Selection Study” (2011)
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6. Black Americans are more likely to serve longer sentences than white Americans for the same offense. A 2012 working paper found “robust evidence” that black male federal defendants were given longer sentences than comparable whites. Black men’s sentences were, on average, 10 percent longer than those of their white peers. This is partly explained by the fact that prosecutors are about twice as likely to file charges against blacks that carry mandatory minimum sentences than against whites. Source: