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Racial justice
Below is some of our key research and organizing:
Breaking Down Mass Incarceration in the 2010 Census: State-by-State Incarceration Rates by Race/Ethnicity
Breaking Down Mass Incarceration in the 2010 Census: State-by-State Incarceration Rates by Race/EthnicityRacial and ethnic disparities are an unacceptable but defining characteristic of our prison system, yet in 2006 the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics stopped publishing state-level information about racial disparities in incarceration. We used our familiarity with U.S. Census data to chart racial disparities in incarceration with 200+ graphs.
Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned
Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisonedWith data scientist Daniel Kopf, we uncover the data to show that even before their incarceration, the people in prison are much poorer than Americans of similar ages. This was the first report to provides national data on the pre-incarceration incomes of incarcerated people by race and gender.
Detaining the Poor: How money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time
Detaining the Poor: How money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail timeWith data scientist Daniel Kopf, we find that the ability to pay money bail is impossible for too many defendants because the typical bail amount represents -- depending on race and gender of the defendant -- between 8 and 13 months of income.
The Racial Geography of Mass Incarceration
The Racial Geography of Mass IncarcerationRacial and ethnic disparities are an unacceptable but defining characteristic of our prison system, and here we unlock part of the answer to why African-Americans and Latinos fill the prisons while Whites get the jobs running the prisons: the prisons are disproportionately built in white areas.
See also:
- The parallel epidemics of incarceration & HIV in the Deep South, by Emily Widra, September 8, 2017 HIV disproportionately impacts communities that are already marginalized by poverty, inadequate resources, discrimination, and mass incarceration.
- Unraveling the connections between race, incarceration, and women’s HIV rates, by Wendy Sawyer and Emily Widra, May 8, 2017 Current research points to an unexpected contributor to the high rates of HIV infection among Black women: the mass incarceration of Black men.
- The proven truth: Police treat Black Americans with less respect, by Lucius Couloute, June 8, 2017 New research out of Stanford University substantiates what Black America has always known – that police officers treat Blacks differently than they do whites.
- @AltBJS highlights important data on racial disparities in the criminal justice system, by Emily Widra, March 7, 2017 During Black History Month, the twitter user @AltBJS presented 28 under-discussed facts about racial disparities in the justice system. I collected the sources.
- Why do we lock juveniles up for life and throw away the key? Race plays a big part. By Joshua Aiken, September 15, 2016 The United States is the only country in the world that sentences people under 18 to die behind bars. Which states do it, and why?
- The criminal justice system is riddled with racial disparities, by Alison Walsh, August 15, 2016 We explore the various stages at which racial inequity pervades the justice system.
- The crippling effect of incarceration on wealth, by Meredith Booker, April 26, 2016 The wealth disparity between young men who experience prison and those who never do is staggering - and contains a heavy racial component.
- Reaching too far, coming up short: How large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark, by Aleks Kajstura, Peter Wagner and Leah Sakala, January 27, 2009. In this 2009 report, we explored the racial discrimination inherent to Massachusetts' now-reformed drug zone law. We expect to find similar results in other states that have similar laws - ones creating high penalties for offenses committed in dense urban areas where people of color disproportionately live.
- The civil rights section of our Research Clearinghouse for comprehensive edited links to empirical research by other organizations.
Recommended Reading:
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.
50 state incarceration profiles
All of our recent reports about prison/jail growth, racial disparities, and more, re-organized by state.
Intentional Prison Gerrymandering in Wyoming
Two incumbents avoid facing off by going 17 miles out of the way to use a large prison as a political pawn.
For-profit video visits in prisons & jails
This predatory industry wants to literally stand in between the incarcerated and their families by replacing human contact with computer chats.
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