Socio-economic factors that are linked to race could explain why blacks make up a disproportionate share of inmates in America's prisons and jails, the Associated Press reported July 17.Newly released U.S. Census figures show that blacks are arrested at much higher rates than their percentage of the national population.
2000 Census reports show that blacks make up 12 percent of the United States' 281 million people, while whites make up nearly 75 percent of the total population. But in South Carolina, blacks make up 68 percent of male inmates, while in West Virginia, blacks comprise 44 percent of the female prison population.
Law-enforcement data shows that blacks were involved in 29 percent of arrests in 1999, while whites made up 69 percent of arrests. The prison data is based on FBI information compiled from 29 states and the District of Columbia.
Fritz Rauschenberg, research director of the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission, acknowledged that racial biases are a factor in the criminal-justice system. But he said socio-economic factors should not be overlooked in explaining racial disparities.
Historically, he explained, minorities generally have higher rates of poverty and live in cities. Crimes are generally committed more by poorer people and in urban areas. In these urban areas, also, law-enforcement pursues more aggressive crime-fighting efforts, especially against drugs.
For instance, since the 1980s, anti-drug efforts have focused on crack cocaine, a drug more prominent in inner cities, where more blacks reside.
Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, believes racial disparities will be reduced when problems with racial profiling are solved, and courts focus on rehabilitation and treatment rather than prison time for drug-related offenses.
"Our prison population has the tendency to be African-American, poor, and undereducated," Shelton said. "And it's worsened in the last 15 years."
He pointed out that many black drug suspects lack the money to afford quality legal representation, drug treatment, and other programs that white suburban offenders can afford.
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