Good News, Bad News on Prison Racial Gap
December 4, 2019
Racial disparities in the US criminal justice system have decreased in recent years, a new report says, but African Americans remain five times more likely than white people to be incarcerated, and the length of prison sentences for black people have actually increased, partially offsetting the advance. This persistent gap represents but one way that mass incarceration disproportionately hurts communities of color, legal experts argued in Issues, adding that overly rigorous crime policies and practices may actually do more harm than good.