Racial Disparities in the U.S. Prison Population:
Causes, Effects and Remedies
Michael C. Pugh
Bethel University

Introduction
America’s war on drugs has contributed to a steady influx of non-violent offenders into the nation’s judicial system for over thirty years. Many of these inmates are serving long sentences with rigid probation and parole policies that many believe are designed as a set-up for failure and re-offense. The result of this influx of offenders is a growing racial disparity, as shown by Bobo & Thompson:
In 2004. for example, black males constituted 43.3 percent of those incarcerated in state, federal, and local prisons or jails, though only 13 percent of the total population. Whites on the other hand represented 35.7 percent of the male inmate population in 2004, well under their 75 percent of the total male population (Bobo & Thompson, 2006). (p. 451)
This ballooning disparity has become a trend of increasing concern among proponents of racial equality. Many view this trend as another cog in the wheel of covert institutional racism, even labeling it “The New Jim Crow”. Among the men and women of color now residing in U.S. prisons are the potential business owners, educators and leaders of communities that sorely need them. Immediate and results-oriented attention to the racial disparity in U.S. prisons will do much to repair the damaged, needful communities of color throughout the country.

BLACK CRIME: CRIMINAL OR CULTURAL?

“Black people and crime go hand-in-hand”, is an often debated stereotype that African-Americans have endured since slavery. Contributing factors perpetuating this stereotype include, economic, educational and familial shortcomings that have continually challenged and burdened Black communities for hundreds of years. In addition to these very real problems, American society’s perceived notions of the