Minnesota exposes one troubling reason America locks up so many black people.
(Screenshot via Georgia Department of Corrections)
Prison inmates in Wilcox State Prison in Abbeville, Georgia.
America has banished a disproportionate number of its black citizens to the "gray wasteland" of incarceration, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in The Atlantic's new cover story.
In "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration," Coates notes that in 2000, one in 10 black males between the ages of 20 and 40 was behind bars. That was 10 times the rate for white males in the same age group.
A decade later, Coates writes, one-third of black male high-school dropouts between 20 and 39 were incarcerated. Only 13% of white dropouts in that age group were behind bars.
The incarceration and poverty rates in Minnesota could help explain why so many African-American men end up in prison or jail.
Though Minnesota has one of America's lowest incarceration rates due to "relatively sane justice policies," it also has one of the "worst black-white incarceration ratios in the country," Coates writes, citing a 2009 paper from the University of Minnesota Law School.
Studies from the 1980s and 1990s showed that the black per-capita incarceration rates in Minnesota were about 20 times higher than the rates for whites, making the ratio the most unequal in the nation, Richard Frase wrote in the paper, called "What Explains Persistent Racial Disproportionality in Minnesota's Jail and Prison Populations?"
Minnesota does a bit better now, but its ratio of black-to-white incarceration rates is still in the top quartile, according to Frase.
It turns out that something else distinguishes Minnesota from other states in the US: The poverty rate for blacks in that state is higher than it is in the US as a whole.
In 2000, the black-family poverty rate was six times higher than the white-family poverty rate in Minnesota, while it was 3.4 times higher in the US as a whole.
Poverty and incarceration perpetuate each other, Frase writes:
Poverty and lack of opportunity are associated with higher crime rates; crime leads to arrest, a criminal record, and usually a jail or prison sentence; past crimes lengthen those sentences; offenders released from prison or jail confront family and neighborhood dysfunction, increased rates of unemployment, and other crime-producing disadvantages; this makes them likelier to commit new crimes, and the cycle repeats it
Coates says Minnesota provides a bigger lesson.
"The lesson of Minnesota is that the chasm in incarceration rates is deeply tied to the socioeconomic chasm between black and white America," he writes.
One scientific study of incarceration disparity between black PEOPLE and white PEOPLE substantiated by 20 years of State figures and further substantiated by crippling poverty rates for black PEOPLE many times worse than their counterparts Nationwide. Frase's independent study and commentary validates the first.
They both, particularly Frase, left out the fact that being housed with other types of criminals whether more violent in nature or more lucrative provides the opportunities for an inmate to diversify their criminal repertoire or refine their criminal skills. This is undoubtedly a factor in subsequent crimes that are worse than the first offense assuming they were guilty of the first offense. Those who were wrongly accused and sentenced according to assumed guilt are presented with an insider's guide to any criminal venture of their choosing fueled by their fellow inmates common traits and cynicism of their innocence from everyone. We all know second and following sentences don't have much chance of being shorter. 20 years of corroborating statistics the inmates must be aware of must be impossible for them to miss.
How anyone reads anything that came before or after, " Poverty and incarceration perpetuate each other, Frase writes:" and extracts the foregone conclusions you come to is beyond me.
Incase you missed it there was a colon (:) after that, making the following paragraph the reason (as in reason and logic, critical thinking...) behind the statement.
1. The inmates are black before during and after their incarceration(s) that's the constant.
2. Poverty isn't something you have one day a week, despite whatever noble effort for years leading up to the detainable offense, guilty or innocent. The PEOPLE in question are still unable to avoid being black.
3. It's ridiculous to assume that a PERSON who was 1 and 2 before incarcerations will be prosperous upon release given that they are incapable of contributing to their family or households while incarcerated if they still have them after release.
4. Those who did CHOSE to commit crimes leading to incarcerations out of desperation from sustained poverty will be under even more pressure due to 3, 2, and 1.
5. I'm pretty sure there are more white PEOPLE in Minnesota than black PEOPLE. If the numbers are close to Census data 13% black, 73% white, 33% black dropouts jailed, 13% white dropouts jailed, means even for white PEOPLE with substandard education are 20% LESS likely to be jailed. Education level per capita doesn't explain it.
6. 6x poverty level of white PEOPLE in Minnesota should yield 6x the incarcerations, it's 10x almost doubled for males 20-40. It's not JUST poverty. Endemic poverty rates make black Minnesotans 6x less likely to pursue higher academic education opportunities than their white counterparts. That doesn't present gainful sustainablly compensatory employment futures or job security for black PEOPLE there.
7. Kudos the the Minnesota School of Law for publishing pretty damming evidence for a complete miscarriage justice, (arrests convictions and incarcerations) denial of EQUAL RIGHTS and EQUAL PROTECTION under the LAW.
8. Sociology, criminology, economics, and politics are all sciences supported by statistics. It's the application of those statistics that give a clearer understanding of what is actually happening in reality, not inference to one statement or statistic taken out of context.
