Home > gender and sexuality, prisons and prisoners, race, Sentencing Project > The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration

The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration

February 28, 2013

The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women’s Incarceration

Source: Sentencing Project

From 2000 to 2009 there was a dramatic shift in the racial composition of the women’s prison population. In 2000, African American women were incarcerated at 6 times the rate of white women. By 2009, that disparity had dropped by half, to less than three times the white rate.

The factors contributing to these changes include: sharply reduced incarceration of African American women for drug offenses in some states; declining rates of arrest of black women for violent, property, and drug offenses; and, cumulative social disadvantages that are increasingly affecting less educated white women.

Recommendations for addressing these issues include conducting state-based analyses of racial disparity, enacting proactive racial impact statement legislation, and engaging practitioners in projects to reduce disparities in local jurisdictions.

About these ads
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 439 other followers

%d bloggers like this: