SOCIAL - POLITICAL COMMENTARY: Other America: Race Control

This is a bleak image of a guard tower at the Bowie County Correctional Facility, Texarkana, Texas. The US has the highest prison population rate in the world, 716 per 100,000 of the national population (1). Almost 3% of black male U.S. residents of all ages were imprisoned on December 31, 2013, compared to 1% of Hispanic males, and 0.5% of white males. Black males were imprisoned at rates at least 2.5 times greater than Hispanic males and 6 times greater than white males (2). Black male offenders exceeded sentence length for White male offenders by 19.5 percent, 15.2 percent and 5.5 percent depending on the period (3). While illegal drug use is slightly higher among African Americans, this difference does not explain the significantly higher arrest rate and length of sentencing. The rate of illegal drug use in the last month among African Americans ages 12 and up in 2014 was 12.4%, compared to the national average of 10.2% (4). (1)International Center For Prison Studies-World Prison Population List (10th edition)(2)U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 2014, NCJ 247282(3)United States Sentencing Commission - Continuing Impact of United States v. Booker on Federal Sentencing(4)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration- 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Race Control

This is a bleak image of a guard tower at the Bowie County Correctional Facility, Texarkana, Texas. The US has the highest prison population rate in the world, 716 per 100,000 of the national population (1). Almost 3% of black male U.S. residents of all ages were imprisoned on December 31, 2013, compared to 1% of Hispanic males, and 0.5% of white males. Black males were imprisoned at rates at least 2.5 times greater than Hispanic males and 6 times greater than white males (2). Black male offenders exceeded sentence length for White male offenders by 19.5 percent, 15.2 percent and 5.5 percent depending on the period (3). While illegal drug use is slightly higher among African Americans, this difference does not explain the significantly higher arrest rate and length of sentencing. The rate of illegal drug use in the last month among African Americans ages 12 and up in 2014 was 12.4%, compared to the national average of 10.2% (4).  

 

(1)International Center For Prison Studies-World Prison Population List (10th edition) 

(2)U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 2014, NCJ 247282 

(3)United States Sentencing Commission - Continuing Impact of United States v. Booker on Federal Sentencing 

(4)Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration- 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health