Size of minority population impacts states' prison rates, study finds
Tuesday, October 14, 2014 - 12:00
in Health & Medicine
States with a large minority population tend to incarcerate more people, research has concluded. States with large African-American populations are more likely to have harsher incarceration practices, worse conditions of confinement and tougher policies toward juveniles compared with other states. These findings, experts say, provide support for long-standing arguments that the criminal justice system is used as a mechanism for controlling members of the population who are perceived as threats because of race.