prison stats and racial disparities

the sentencing project has released a new report on racial disparities in prison sentences:

Blacks in the United States are imprisoned at more than five times the rate of whites, and Hispanics are locked up at nearly double the white rate.

the worst states are IA, VT, NJ, CT, and WI. in those states, blacks are locked up at more than ten times the rate of whites.


similarly, chris uggen has a map that shows mortality rates in prison. the red states are those with the highest mortality rates [click to enlarge].

he says:

i'm not sure to what extent this pattern can be attributed to differentials in sentencing practices, health care, or the sociodemographic characteristics of inmates, but there is strong evidence for some sort of regionalization.

i agree.