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Visualizations : Ratio of Blacks (%) in Prison to Blacks (%) by Population

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Created by: grjenkin      Created on: Monday September 10, 6:46 PM

dataset icon Data file: Ratio of Blacks (%) in Prison to Blacks (%) by Population; Census 2000
Data source: Human Rights Watch
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Prisons and Prison Reform
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Comments (15)


grjenkin says:
District of Columbia has a 92.8% black population in prisons and a 60% black population.
Posted Monday September 10, 6:50 PM
Last edited Monday September 24, 3:53 PM
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Anonymous says:
So just to clarify, this is (% in prison) / (% in population), not the other way around?
Posted Monday September 10, 10:17 PM
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grjenkin says:
Correct. Ratio is (% in prison)/(% in population). Thanks.
Posted Tuesday September 11, 12:49 AM
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Anonymous says:
So the highest % of blacks in any state is about 1/3 of the population.
Posted Tuesday October 23, 12:42 PM
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grjenkin says:
Why would Vermont, West Virginia and South Dakota have such a high ratio?
Posted Thursday November 08, 12:41 PM
Last edited Wednesday November 21, 10:27 AM
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Anonymous says:
It seems like the states with very low percentages of Black people imprison a greater % of them.

Highest Ratio States:
South Dakota = .6% black
West Virginia = 3.2% black
Vermont = .5% black
Iowa = 2.1% black
New Hampshire = .7% black

Lowest Ratio States:
Mississippi = 36.3% black
Louisiana =32.5% black
Georgia = 28.7% black
Kentucky = 7.3% black
South Carolina = 29.5% black

The only outlier there is Kentucky, which I have no idea how to account for.

Also, there are a few states with low black populations that have low ratios, and states with high populations with high ratios. However, in general the pattern seems to hold. (I'll do the regressions and post in a bit.)

What does that mean? A few possible explanations come to mind:
1. The most racist states, which are more likely to imprison a higher ratio of blacks, might attract a lower percentage of black people.
2. States with very low percents of minorities might be more likely to see blacks as outsiders or criminals and sentence them more often or more harshly.
3. Maybe being the only black person and getting treated like a criminal and/or outsider makes a person particularly likely to commit crimes.
Posted Friday November 09, 6:26 PM
ClaudiaGold says:
Here's a visualization of the ratio compared to the % of blacks per state, as promised above:
http://services.alphaworks.ibm.com:80/manyeyes/browse/visualizations?p=2&sort=rating&order=desc
The pattern is much stronger than I expected. The states with just a few blacks have far more disproportionately large prison populations. States with many blacks have much more equal ratios.
DC, by the way, does not have a high ratio. The ratio for DC is 1.5, the lowest of any of them and also has the highest % of blacks!
Posted Friday November 09, 8:06 PM
Last edited Friday November 09, 8:06 PM
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grjenkin says:
With 12% of the U.S. population black and about 50% of the prison population black, as a nation the U.S. has a 4.1 ratio.
Posted Wednesday November 21, 10:50 AM
Last edited Friday January 11, 3:06 PM
Anonymous says:
good, please keep locking up these sorry bastards
Posted Monday January 07, 8:10 AM
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Anonymous says:
good, please keep locking up these sorry bastards
Posted Monday January 07, 8:14 AM
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grjenkin says:
Financially and morally, we can't afford a prejudiced justice system. According to the Human Rights Watch, the rate of incarceration of black men in federal and state jail and prison populations increased at ten times the rate of white men between 1985 and 1995.

Our prison system is now underfunded and overflowing (see Cal. prisons).
Posted Friday January 11, 3:48 PM
Last edited Saturday January 12, 11:50 AM
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Anonymous says:
what is the % of the black population in the US and what is the prison population for blacks
Posted Thursday March 20, 3:34 PM
Anonymous says:
This is just another example of blacks & the liberal media that caters to them attempting to rationalize their failures & shift blame to others,ie.,whites.
Posted Saturday April 05, 10:09 AM
Anonymous says:
foolish white folks.
Posted Friday July 11, 10:15 AM
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Anonymous says:
how dare u torture innocent people. fuck white supremacy
Posted Friday July 11, 10:17 AM
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