Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice in Wisconsin

1. Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice in Wisconsin Pamela Oliver

2. Plan for the Talk • National Overviews • Wisconsin Imprisonment Patterns by Race • Age, Race & Imprisonment in Wisconsin • County Imprisonment Patterns • County Arrest Patterns • Prison/Arrest Ratios • Theoretical Implications, Conclusions

3. The Magnitude of the Problem National Overview

4. Comparing International Incarceration Rates (Source: Sentencing Project)

5. World Incarceration Rates in 1995: Adding US Race Patterns

6. The Black Population is Being Imprisoned at Alarming Rates • Upwards of 1/3 of the black male population is under the supervision of the correctional system (prison, jail, parole, probation) • Estimated “lifetime expectancy” of spending some time in prison is 29% for young black men. • About 9% of black men in their 20s are in prison • 7% of black children, 2.6% of Hispanic children , .8% of white children have a parent in prison (at one time) – lifetime expectancy much higher

7. Imprisonment Itself Is A Problem for Black Communities • Imprisonment rates are too high to be pulling “bad apples” out from a law-abiding population • Pulling a high proportion of men out from a community has to impact women, children – everyone in the community • The experience of going through prison does not improve an individual’s chances of contributing productively to society

8. About Rates & Disparity Ratios • Imprisonment and arrest rates are expressed as the rate per 100,000 of the appropriate population • Example: In 1999 Wisconsin new prison sentences • 1021 whites imprisoned, white population of Wisconsin was 4,701,123: 1021 ÷ 4701123 = .000217. Multiply .00021 by 100,000 = 22, the imprisonment rate per 100,000 population. • 1,266 blacks imprisoned, black population of Wisconsin was 285,308. 1266 ÷ 285308 = .004437. Multiply by 100,000 = 444 • Calculate Disparity Ratios by dividing rates: 444/22 = 20.4 the black/white ratio in new prison sentence rates

9. US Prison Admissions by Race

10. National & Wisconsin Imprisonment Rates

11. The 1970’s Policy Shift • Shift to determinate sentencing, higher penalties • The drug war • LEAA, increased funding for police departments • Post-civil rights post-riots competitive race relations, race-coded political rhetoric.?

12. Imprisonment Has Risen While Crime Has Declined

13. Crime Trends Source: Crunching Numbers: Crime and Incarceration at the End of the Millennium by Jan M. Chaiken Based on Bureau of Justice Statistics data from National Crime Victimization Survey. Figures adjusted for changed methodology, shaded area marks change.

14. Property Crime

15. Violent Crime

16. Rape

17. Trends • Prison up, violent crime down. • Drug offenses driving imprisonment increases, but drug use down. Drugs not index crime. • Larceny/theft is 52.5% of index crime

18. Current Illicit Drug Use(Any in the past month) • 6.6 percent for whites • 6.8 percent for Hispanics • 7.7 percent for blacks • 10.6 percent for American Indian/Alaska Natives (this is largely marijuana, rates for other drugs are lower than other races) • 11.2 percent for persons reporting multiple race • 3.2 percent for Asians • Source: 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

19. Wisconsin Imprisonment Patterns

20. New Imprisonment Rates by State, 1996

21. State Imprisonment Rates • Higher white imprisonment rates predicted by higher white unemployment rate and lower percentage urban (R2=.36) • Higher black imprisonment rates predicted by higher white imprisonment rate (r2=.3 for this alone, a regime control), lower percent black, and higher black/white poverty ratio (R2=.72 for all three) • If you don’t control for white rates, the only significant predictor of black rates is low percent black • Data are prison admissions for the 37 states participating in 1996 NCRP

22. State Prison Admissions per 100,000 by Offense, Race: US

23. Prison Admissions per 100,000, by Race: Wisconsin

24. Wisconsin Prison Admissions Time Trends 1990-1999

25. Wisconsin Prison Admissions by Race Black AmerInd Hispanic white Asian

26. Wisconsin: White NH Total Prison Admissions Total Admits, Whites Violent Theft Robbery & Burglary Drugs Other

27. Total Admits, Offense Blacks Drugs Violent Robbery & Burglary Other Theft

28. Total Admits, Hispanics Drugs Violent Robbery & Burglary Theft Other

29. Proportion of Admissions Involving New Sentences

30. White Admissions Status Violation Only New Sentence Only Violation + New

31. Blacks Admission Status Violation Only New Sentence Only Violation + New

32. Compare Black & White Trends

33. Total admits, violations only Black AmerInd Hispanic white Asian

34. Whites, Violators Violent Theft Robbery & Burglary Other Drugs

35. Black violators Drugs Violent Theft Robbery & Burglary Other

36. Prison Admission by Race 1990-1999, New Sentence Only Total Admits, New Sentences Only Black Hispanic AmerInd Asian white

37. New Sentences, Whites Violent Robbery & Burglary Other Theft Drugs

38. New Sentences, Blacks Offense Drugs Violent Robbery & Burglary Theft Other

39. Conclusions • Huge racial disparities, especially black vs. white • Probation/parole violators returning to prison are a major source of the rise • Blacks show steep rises in new sentences for drugs, while whites show no increase • White new sentences are primarily for violent offenses. • Black new sentences are primarily for drug offenses.

40. Age Patterns for Imprisonment

41. New sentences by age, race

42. Offenses by Age, Whites

43. Offenses by Age, Blacks

44. Disparities by Age, Offense