U.S. Prison System and Its Populations: Whites vs. Minorities
Course Project Outline
Scenario #4
U.S. Prison System and its Populations:
Whites vs. Minorities
Kent Johnson
SOCS350
Professor: Dr. J. Johnson
June 7, 2010
Table of Contents
General Statistics 3
Men vs. Women 4
Statistics: The Who and the Why 6
Black Judges vs. White Judges and Their Decisions 8
What is being done to reverse this Trend 10
References 11
Statistics In the prison system today, there has been an explosion of minorities being incarcerated for offenses that may not have gotten jail time if they had not been of a certain race. Although the overall numbers of incarcerations may have dropped just slightly for the first time in over 35 years, the amount of inmates remains to be a topic of concern. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2003 almost 10.4 percent of black males who were between the ages of 25 to 29 were in prison compared to the rate of 2.4 percent for Hispanic males and a rate of 1.2 percent for white men. Why is there such a difference in these numbers? This paper will take a look at the growing trend. The last figures have shown that these figures have grown to 12 percent for black males, 3.7 percent for Hispanic males, and 1.6 percent for white males. This is a concern for the states that have prisons since the statistics show that by the end of 2002 most were operating at an average of 1 to 17 percent above their rated operating capacity. In 1990 the number of felony convictions in state courts was about 829,000. That number has grown to over 1,132,290 in 2006. The most current statistics (as of January 2010) have put the figure of people in state prison at about 1,404,053. Of all of the convictions that send a person to prison, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics has reported that about 69 percent of those have had prior convictions. That means that almost 20 percent of those in prison are repeat offenders. When studies were done asking the general public what reasons they
Scenario #4
U.S. Prison System and its Populations:
Whites vs. Minorities
Kent Johnson
SOCS350
Professor: Dr. J. Johnson
June 7, 2010
Table of Contents
General Statistics 3
Men vs. Women 4
Statistics: The Who and the Why 6
Black Judges vs. White Judges and Their Decisions 8
What is being done to reverse this Trend 10
References 11
Statistics In the prison system today, there has been an explosion of minorities being incarcerated for offenses that may not have gotten jail time if they had not been of a certain race. Although the overall numbers of incarcerations may have dropped just slightly for the first time in over 35 years, the amount of inmates remains to be a topic of concern. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2003 almost 10.4 percent of black males who were between the ages of 25 to 29 were in prison compared to the rate of 2.4 percent for Hispanic males and a rate of 1.2 percent for white men. Why is there such a difference in these numbers? This paper will take a look at the growing trend. The last figures have shown that these figures have grown to 12 percent for black males, 3.7 percent for Hispanic males, and 1.6 percent for white males. This is a concern for the states that have prisons since the statistics show that by the end of 2002 most were operating at an average of 1 to 17 percent above their rated operating capacity. In 1990 the number of felony convictions in state courts was about 829,000. That number has grown to over 1,132,290 in 2006. The most current statistics (as of January 2010) have put the figure of people in state prison at about 1,404,053. Of all of the convictions that send a person to prison, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics has reported that about 69 percent of those have had prior convictions. That means that almost 20 percent of those in prison are repeat offenders. When studies were done asking the general public what reasons they
References: Held, T. (2007). Panel will target state 's racial disparity: Ratio of minorities in prison among worst. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The (WI), Retrieved from Newspaper Source database. Difilippo, D. (2009, May 23). Pa. lawmakers want to examine criminal-justice from all angles. Philadelphia Daily News, The (PA), Retrieved from Newspaper Source database. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Project America: Minorities: Prison, retrieved May 19, 2010. From http://www.project.org/info.php?recordID=115 Prison Count: State Population Declines for the First Time in 38 Years