Size of minority population impacts states' prison rates, study finds

[tea and oranges]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by hlthe2b (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Science Daily

Summary:
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.

...The authors found that less generous welfare spending is a dominant driver of greater state punitiveness in terms of political and symbolic punishment, such as greater use of "three strikes" laws and the death penalty. This, they said, suggested that states may decide whether to deal with marginalized populations through the penal system or the welfare system. In addition, states with lower rates of poverty were also more punitive in the area of political and symbolic punishment, the authors found.

Regarding incarceration practices, higher levels of citizen engagement and higher rates of property crime are associated with less punitiveness, the authors said. States with a large African-American population tend to have more punitive incarceration practices. The violent crime rate was a significant and positive driver of punishments for "immorality" crimes, such as prostitution, gambling and drug abuse on the theory that doing so acts as a deterrent against more serious crimes. For juvenile justice, states with a higher violent crime rate and states with a larger African-American population were likely to have more punitive policies, the study said.

Read more: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141014114748.htm?utm_source=feedburner

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Damning stuff! For full outrage, read entire article at link!

[EEO]

1. What an interesting coincidence.

[jtuck004]

2. Needed a study for this? Can't just count?

It's not like we don't all know anyway. Important issue, this.

Someone let me know if the white folk want to end it, since they are the only ones that can. Hasn't seemed to be a whole lot of interest in it, especially among the white folk.

Hey, is Dancing With the Bores on tonight?

[candelista]

3. Does this surprise you?

[Igel]

6. The study? No.

That pepole take a possible inference about the data, that it shows what "drives" policy as fact, I guess it should. But I'm used to that kind of deficit so it's just more of the same.

The first assumption is that racial demographics are random and therefore uncoupled from any other social dynamic. The first assumption is false. Demographics aren't random but correlated with other social factors.

When you exclude all other possible factors, you have to assume that the only one remaining is true. The problem is excluding all other possible factors not because they're shown to not be factors but because they're inconvenient to showing what you want to show. Then it's all just a matter of belief.

[tea and oranges]

7. Absolutely Not!

I just have a thing for hearing/reading stuff outside my own head.

[candelista]

8. Well, this story is not exactly "Man Bites Dog" type material.

[heaven05]

4. ooohhhh!

big surprise.......

[jwirr]

5. Several things. First this is no surprise. Second, my reason for being against the death penalty

still stands. Third, the idea of deterrence has never worked. Finally, immorality - Calvinist religion - being poor is caused by being sinful. Calvinists are wrong. They should spend some time looking at the immorality of the rich.

[TygrBright]

9. In other news, water is wet. But yeah, good, if enraging, data. n/t

[hlthe2b]

10. Locking... LBN is limited to news no greater than 12 hours old..

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