Blacks Locked Up at 5 Times the Rate of Whites

Tweet "For every 100,000 people, Iowa incarcerates 309 whites and 4,200 blacks, the study said.

Thanks to Dorli for forwarding the Jena petition. It was jarring to then see this story in the PI that notes that disproportionate imprisonment of Blacks is much higher in the northern states than it is in the South. See portion of story below and whole story here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/324226_prisons19.html

"DES MOINES, Iowa -- 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, according to a study released Wednesday by a criminal justice policy group.

"The report by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based think tank, found that states in the Midwest and Northeast have the greatest black-to-white disparity in incarceration. Iowa had the widest disparity in the nation, imprisoning blacks at more than 13 times the rate of whites.
Such figures "reflect a failure of social and economic interventions to address crime effectively," as well as racial bias in the justice system, said Marc Mauer, the group's executive director.

"Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut and Wisconsin incarcerated blacks at more than 10 times the rate of whites, the group said, citing Justice Department statistics from 2005. Vermont had a ratio of 12.5, followed by New Jersey with 12.4 and Connecticut with 12.

"States with the lowest black-to-white ratio were Hawaii with 1.9, Georgia with 3.3 and Mississippi with 3.5.

"In Iowa, blacks are imprisoned at a rate more than double the national average.

"For every 100,000 people, Iowa incarcerates 309 whites and 4,200 blacks, the study said.