The Changing Racial Dynamics of Womens Incarceration

Sentencing Project

The Changing Racial

Dynamics of Women’s

Incarceration

Marc Mauer

February 2013

 

THE CHANGING RACIAL DYNAMICS OF

WOMEN’S INCARCERATION

In the first decade of the 21st century the United States began to experience a

shift in the 30 year buildup to a world record prison system. Although the

decade ended with an increased number of people in prison, the rate of growth

overall was considerably below that of previous decades and since 2008 the overall

number of people in state prisons has declined slightly each year.

 

Scholars are beginning to analyze the relative contributions of changes in crime rates,

criminal justice policies, economics, and demographics to the slowing

growth rate of the prison system, but one area that has gone largely unexplored is the impact of

such changes on racial disparities in imprisonment. As is well known black/white

disparities in the use of incarceration have been profound for quite some time. Since

the 1980s a series of analyses have documented these trends at the national level as

well as examining variation in disparity among the states.

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As prison populations fluctuate, though, the relative rate of incarceration among

racial groups may or may not reflect prevailing patterns. Further, as the prospect of a

declining prison population has now become a distinct possibility for the next

decade, it will become increasingly important to monitor whether reduced

incarceration is experienced in similar ways across racial/ethnic groups.

This report first describes trends in incarceration for the first decade of the century,

and contrasts this with patterns of the previous decade. We then assess the extent of

change in the race and gender dynamics of incarceration over the past decade, and

suggest factors which may be contributing to these trends. The data in this report

document the following key findings:

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THE CHANGING RACIAL DYNAMICS OF WOMEN’S INCARCERATION

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Racial/ethnic disparities in U.S.incarceration remain substantial

In 2009, African Americans and Latinos constituted more than 60% of imprisoned

offenders. African American males were incarcerated in state and federal

prisons at 6.4 times the rate of non Hispanic white males, and Hispanic

males at 2.4 times the rate of non Hispanic whites

.

Declining rate of incarceration for African Americans from 2000 to 2009

the rate of incarceration in state and federal prisons declined 9.8% for black men and 30.7% for black women.  

 

Rates of incarceration for whites and Latinos generally rising

–Incarceration rates for white men and women rose 8.5% and 47.1%, respectively from 2000 to 2009. For Hispanics the men’s rate declined by 2.2% while the women’s rate rose by 23.3%.

 

Dramatic shift in racial disparities among women

In 2000 black women were incarcerated in state and federal prisons at six times the rate of white

women. By 2009 that ratio had declined by 53%, to 2.8:1. This shift was a result of both declining incarceration of African American women and rising incarceration of white women. The disparity between Hispanic and non Hispanic white women declined by 16.7% during this period.

 

Similar trends can be seen among men, but at a lesser scale, with a decline of 16.9%

in the black/white incarceration ratio over the decade. The disparity between

Hispanic and non Hispanic white men declined by 11.1%

SLOWING GROWTH IN INCARCERATION

Beginning in the early 1970s the United States embarked on an unprecedented

escalation of the use of imprisonment. The 2.2 million people behind bars in prisons

and jails in 2010 represented more than a 500% increase from the level of 1972.

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During the highest growth years in the 1980s, state prison populations increased by

as much as 12% in a single year. Nationally, the rate of prison growth of earlier decades slowed consi

derably in the first decade of this century. The total number of individuals in state prisons rose by

an average of 1.1% per year and in federal prisons by an average of 3.3% between

2000 and 2010, compared to 5.6% and 8.6% respectively in the 1990s.

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The substantial growth of the 1990s is best seen in states such as Texas, in which the

number of persons under state prison jurisdiction tripled, as well as in ten states in

which the population more than doubled (Appendix Table 1). Overall, the median

change in the number of people in state prison systems was 71% for the 1990s. In

contrast, from 2000 to 2010 the median increase declined to 21%, with only three

states experiencing more than a 50% rise in their populations. Further, five states

Delaware,Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York had fewer people in

their prisons at the end of the decade and 47 states experienced at least one year of

decline.

 

While reduced crime rates are likely to have contributed to these declines, deliberate

changes in policy and practice are also playing a role in these reductions in some

states.

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These include initiatives such as treatment diversion programs, sentence

reduction incentives for participation in prison programming, enhanced reentry

support, and reduced technical violations of parole.