By BitcoDavid
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Sentencing Project, prison sentences for Blacks dropped significantly, from 2000 to 2009. Whites and Hispanics however, have seen an increase in that same period.
Midyear 2009 Incarceration Rates by Race and Gender per 100,000 U.S. residents of the same race and gender. Prison Inmates at Midyear 2009 – Statistical Tables – US Bureau of Justice Statistics, published June 2010. See tables 16-19 for totals and rates for blacks, Hispanics, and whites. Broken down by year, gender, and age. See page 2 for “Selected characteristics of inmates held in custody in state or federal prisons or in local jails”. It has the overall incarceration rate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This change in the makeup of the prison population is most significant among Black women, down 30.7%. Black women who were 6 times more likely to be incarcerated at the turn of the century, are now only 2.8 times so. Black men were 7.7 times more likely than their White counterparts to be imprisoned. Their rate has dropped to 6.4 times that of Whites.
White incarceration however, is up by 47.1 percent for women and 8.5 percent for men. Latinos are down by 2.2% but Hispanic women are up by 23.3%.
Jailer to the World, America’s current prison population is approximately 38% Black and 34% White. Women – who are commonly incarcerated at twice the rate of men for similar offenses – now number over 100,000 inmates.
A visual representation of states in the United States by number of imprisoned persons. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
This isn’t as good of news as it appears to be. Essentially, although one social group who has traditionally been ill-served by the Justice system is seeing a small improvement, others are seeing a harsher backlash. Incarceration is an industry in America, and no hotel ever succeeded with empty rooms.
It is also important to bear in mind that these data reflect the number of prison terms meted out during this past decade, and do not reflect the numbers of existing inmates, previously sentenced and still serving time.
Data for this article came from the NYT. Here’s the link.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/incarceration-rates-for-blacks-dropped-report-shows.html
BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.
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[This is our last post for February – our awesomest month yet. Next month is our birthday. I’m looking forward to bringing our “A” game for March. Until then, thank you all for reading and supporting DeafInPrison.com. I love you all! — BitcoDavid]