Incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment
- What does it mean that the leader of the "free world" locks up its Black men at a rate 8 Times Higher than South Africa during Apartheid?
On December 31, 2002, there were 2,033,331 people in U.S. prisons and jails. That's a rise of 3.7% during the 12 previous months, more than twice the growth rate of the previous year. The average annual increase since 1995 has been 3.6%. As of December 31, 2002, the U.S. incarceration rate was 701 per 100,000 residents. But when you break down the statistics you see that incarceration is not an equal opportunity punishment:
U.S. incarceration rates by race, June 30, 2002:
- Whites: 353 per 100,000
- Latinos: 895 per 100,00
- Blacks: 2,470 per 100,000
Look at just the males by race, and the incarceration rates become even more frightening, June 30, 2002:
- White males: 649 per 100,000
- Hispanic males: 1,740 per 100,000
- Black males: 4,810 per 100,000
If you look at males aged 25-29 and by race, you can see what is going on even clearer, June 30, 2002:
- For White males ages 25-29: 1,615 per 100,000.
- For Latino males ages 25-29: 4,339 per 100,000.
- For Black males ages 25-29: 12,877 per 100,000. (That's 12.9% of Black men in their late 20s.)
Or you can make some international comparisons:
South Africa under Apartheid was internationally condemned as a racist society.
- South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black adult men: 851 per 100,00
- U.S. under George Bush (2002), Black adult men: 7,150 per 100,000
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