NCJ Number
102104
Journal
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 76 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1985) Pages: 666-683
Date Published
1985
Length
18 pages
Annotation
In extending and complementing the work of Blumstein and Hindelang, this study examines whether the disproportionate representation of blacks in prisons is primarily due to a higher black crime rate compared to whites or racial discrimination in sentencing.
Abstract
This study used National Crime Survey household surveys for 1973-82 to determine the race of offenders as reported by surveyed crime victims. The racial distribution of prison admissions was determined from 1974 and 1979 inmate surveys, which randomly sampled 10,040 and 11,397 State prison inmates respectively, stratified by type of facility, geographic location, and facility size. Data from a 1982 admissions census show the racial distribution of State prison admissions for 1982. At the 1973 black crime rate, blacks would have composed 48.9 percent of prison admissions under a nondiscriminatory justice system. Blacks did not constitute more than 48.9 percent of the inmate population in that year. In 1979, 43.8 percent of prison admissions would have been black under a nondiscriminatory justice system. Blacks composed 48.1 percent in that year. In 1982, a nondiscriminatory system would have resulted in black prison admissions of 44.9 percent; the actual percentage was 48.9 percent. Although this study neither proves not disproves racial discrimination in sentencing, it indicates that any existing racial discrimination accounts for only a small part of disproportionate black representation in prisons. 49 footnotes.