Crime data in black and white

It is commonly known that the U.S. incarcerates more of its citizens than any other industrialized country. The fact that a disproportionate number of the persons arrested, convicted and imprisoned are African Americans is troubling.

In 2010, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 4,347 out of every 100,000 black males were incarcerated. This number is seven times higher than the number of white males incarcerated.  

 In 2010, African Americans, at 13.1 percent of the U.S. population, made up 38 percent of the total state prison population. Hispanic-Americans, at 16.7 percent of the U.S. population, made up 21 percent of the state prison population. Compare those statistics to white Americans, at 78.1 percent of the U. S. population, made up only 34 percent of the total state prison population.

When arrest data are compared to prison data, the percentage of blacks in the total arrest numbers (27.8 percent) is found to be 10 percent lower than the percentage incarcerated. So blacks are more likely to be convicted and sentenced to time in prison than whites. Similarly, black felony convictions are more likely to result in incarceration than white felony convictions. According to BJS data for 2006, 39 percent of persons convicted on felonies were black and 60 percent were white.

Whites who are convicted are less likely to be incarcerated (66 percent to 72 percent blacks). For drug offenses, 72 percent of blacks convicted were incarcerated in 2006 compared to 61 percent of whites. Only 59 percent of whites convicted of drug trafficking were incarcerated compared to 70 percent of blacks.

Almost any black man can tell a story of being stopped by the police under questionable circumstances. DNA testing has exonerated over 300 persons, and 70 percent of the exonerations have been people of color.  

As long as many see the image of crime as a black man, this country will struggle with addressing race in the criminal justice system. Young black boys will continue to be placed in the prison pipeline, beginning with childish pranks. Prisons will continue to be full of black men until investments are made in removing the barriers that are contributing to school dropouts because two-thirds of school dropouts end up in the criminal justice system.

In recent years, there has been a reduction in the number of persons incarcerated. Now, action must be taken to address the problems faced by persons released from prison. Laws and ordinances that prevent ex-inmates from securing housing and employment are impediments to them becoming productive citizens. Their paths to restoration must begin with reinstating their civil rights, especially their right to vote.  

Elsie L. Scott, founding director of the Ronald W. Walters Center at Howard University, is immediate past president/CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.