Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System: Rates of Incarceration of Blacks vs. Whites

No Equal Justice in the American Criminal Justice System
Abstract
Racial inequality is growing. Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. My research will examine the U.S. criminal justice policies and how it has the most adverse effect on minorities. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of a total population of 1,976,019 incarcerated in adult facilities, 1,239,946 or 63 percent are black or Latino, though these two groups constitute only 25 percent of the national population.
Some of the greatest racial disparities in rates of incarceration occur in states in which minorities are concentrated in urban areas, which tend to have both higher rates of crime and greater law enforcement activity. An analysis utilizing quantitative data will demonstrate that racial disparities exist in the American Criminal Justice System.

7 Pages