The Cause of High Black and Brown Jail Numbers

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

According to the NAACP:
Racial Disparities in Incarceration

• In 2014, African Americans constituted 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population.
• African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.
• The imprisonment rate for African American women is twice that of white women.
• Nationwide, African American children represent 32% of children who are arrested, 42% of children who are detained, and 52% of children whose cases are judicially waived to criminal court.
• Though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32% of the US population, they comprised 56% of all incarcerated people in 2015.
• If African Americans and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates as whites, prison and jail populations would decline by almost 40%.
• Drug Sentencing Disparities
• In the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 17 million whites and 4 million African Americans reported having used an illicit drug within the last month.
• African Americans and whites use drugs at similar rates, but the imprisonment rate of African Americans for drug charges is almost 6 times that of whites.
• African Americans represent 12.5% of illicit drug users, but 29% of those arrested for drug offenses and 33% of those incarcerated in state facilities for drug offenses.

Contributing Factors

• Inner city crime prompted by social and economic isolation
• Crime/drug arrest rates: African Americans represent 12% of monthly drug users, but comprise 32% of persons arrested for drug possession
• “Get tough on crime” and “war on drugs” policies
• Mandatory minimum sentencing, especially disparities in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine possession
• In 2002, blacks constituted more than 80% of the people sentenced under the federal crack cocaine laws and served substantially more time in prison for drug offenses than did whites, despite that fact that more than 2/3 of crack cocaine users in the U.S. are white or Hispanic
• “Three Strikes”/habitual offender policies
• Zero Tolerance policies as a result of perceived problems of school violence; adverse affect on black children
• 35% of black children grades 7-12 have been suspended or expelled at some point in their school careers compared to 20% of Hispanics and 15% of whites

Why?

Is the crime in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., New York City, Baltimore, and Detroit the fault of Republicans?  Is it all Trump’s fault?  Bush’s fault?  Who is to blame for the misery we are being told that exists in the inner-cities?

Each of the cities I named are under Democrat Party control.  The blacks in those cities live under Democrat policies, and Democrat leadership.

As a State, California has been under Democrat control (and at times with a super-majority, leaving the Republicans no opportunity to stand against any proposed policy at all) for half of a century. The Golden State, as a result of Democrat control, leads the country in poverty for States, and ranks second overall only to Washington D.C. (another Democrat dominated region). While the State only accounts for about 12 percent of the national population, Californians comprise one-third of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families beneficiaries (i.e. Welfare Programs). California is home to approximately 22 percent of the nation’s homeless population (with 1 in 5 in either Los Angeles or New York City).  California has the most people on food stamps.  California regularly ranks in the top ten States when it comes to tax burden.

Who’s fault is it that the NAACP statistics shows what it shows?  Who’s fault is it that there is higher crime in brown and black neighborhoods?

The first cause is that of the individual.  Individuals have a choice.  The problem is, many of these folks don’t realize they have a choice, which brings us to the other cause.  Aside from poor decisions made by individuals (who could have chosen otherwise), among the causes of high black and brown jail numbers, and poverty numbers, is liberal left Democrat Party policies. 

The solution?  Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a free market based on the principles of the United States Constitution.

But, the Democrats refuse to apply the solution, and the black community largely refuses to admit the obvious.

It’s almost like some kind of Stockholm Syndrome.

At what point does the people living in Democrat controlled areas realize that their plight is largely because of the Democrat Party leadership in control of their communities?

– Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary