1 in 20 black Americans are in prison.

[Robb]

:wtf:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm

[Igel]

1. More like 1 in 30-something.

"At midyear 2004 there were 4,919 black male prison and jail inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,717 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 717 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.

"Between 1995 and 2001, the increasing number of violent offenders accounted for 63% of the total growth of the State prison population; 15% of the total growth was attributable to the increasing number of drug offenders. "

But that says nothing about the percentage of black females; I'd expect much lower percentages of them to be in jail.

Still, a horrendous figure.

[Nevernose]

14. Check your math

100,000 / 5,000 = 1 in 20

[Igel]

16. He said one in 20 blacks. The report has it one in 20 black *males*.

I take "blacks" to include both male and female. And my hunch is that the incarceration rate for black women is much lower than for black males.

So maybe it's actually 1 in 25 for blacks overall, and I'm just being optimistic.

[Nevernose]

17. Oops. Sorry

You check you math, and I'll check my reading comprehension skills.
:D

Although, there was an article the other day about the growing female prison population. Nevada, for one, is up 50% in the last four years...

[imenja]

2. that is why disenfranchising felons is part of a long history

of suppression of the black vote. Of course it effects whites too, but disproportionately people of color. Felon voting rights is a civil rights issue, in my opinion. I believe it violates the 15th amendment.

[journalist3072]

6. You hit the nail on the head. And that is why....

I am so proud of the voting reform legislation that Sen. Hillary Clinton has been working on. She has language in there that would restore voting rights for former felons.

[imenja]

10. that's great. What's its chance of passing?

[journalist3072]

11. Unfortunately...

With the Republicans controlling the Senate, I'm doubtful about the bill's chances.

Here are some of the provisions in the bill that the Republicans have critized:

1. Restoring the voting rights of ex-felons
2. Proposing a holiday for national elections--so that everyone would have the day off to vote.

[imenja]

12. yeah, Republicans don't like too many people to vote

It hurts their chances of winning. So much for our crusade to spread Democracy around the globe.

[journalist3072]

13. That's exactly right. And what's more....

The Republicans don't have any moral ground to stand on, when they talk about spreading democracy all over the world.

Democracy needs help right in George Bush's backyard. Why? Because the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, an agency of the Oganization of American States, ruled that the United States is in violation of international law because residents of the District of Columbia cannot
elect members of Congress.

[imenja]

15. something occurred to me

If we researched the origins of felon disenfranchisement laws, I wonder they would correspond with the black franchise. I=f it could be proved that the disenfranchisement of felons was a deliberate means of depriving African-Americans the right to vote, the Supreme Court might hear a petition challenging a law under the 14th and 15th amendment. Intent might be proved by reading the transcripts of the state legislative debates leading to the passing of one or more state laws.

The Court seems to be very concerned with the intent of laws, as the ten commandment rulings demonstrated.

[bribri16]

19. That's why blacks get charged for felonies while whites are not charged or

are allowed to plea for lesser charges for the same or worse crimes.

[jmm]

3. For more depressing statistics

Race, Prison and the Drug Laws

.....
According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.
.....
Among persons convicted of drug felonies in state courts, whites were less likely than African-Americans to be sent to prison. Thirty-three percent (33%) of convicted white defendants received a prison sentence, while 51% of African-American defendants received prison sentences. It should also be noted that Hispanic felons are included in both demographic groups rather than being tracked separately so no separate statistic is available.
.....

[GraysonDave]

9. All non-violent drug offenders should be released

It's silly to "protect" society from those who commit victimless crimes. Especially since it shouldn't be a crime in the first place.

[goclark]

4. yep, can't vote can they now

[OneBlueSky]

5. if BushCo has their way, one day it will be . . .

1 in 20 Americans . . . either in prison or in detention camps . . . anyone who disagrees with them is an enemy, don'tcha know . . .

[Selatius]

8. More like 1 in 5 Americans

There's always that 20 percent on the far left that includes tree huggers, hippies, and evil pinko commie scum who need to be disposed of in a proper manner. :sarcasm:

[wli]

21. they've only got capacity for 20 million now

So that's 1 out of 15. But the BRAC affair could vastly expand that by using "civilian inmate prison labor" in now-scheduled-to-be-closed military bases.

[Obamanaut]

7. Most are being warehoused when they could be offered

some sort of rehabilitation. I made the following post on another forum a couple of months ago. About 2 years ago, Fla eliminated the education and vocational programs at 17 institutions. At roughly 2,000 inmates per prison, that's 34.000 MORE who are warehoused with nothing offered them toward rehabilitation. Fla's own statistics (link provided) show that ed and voc programs reduce recidivism. Previous post follows:

http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/recidivismprog/execsum.html#cost


Academic Programs (GED):
The recidivism rate for the 1,788 inmates who received a GED was 29.8% compared to 35.4% for those who did not complete a program. This reduction in recidivism (5.6%) translates into approximately 100 inmates not returning to prison. Avoiding the cost of their re-incarceration for one year would amount to cost savings of approximately $1.9 million.

Inmates who earn a GED are 8.7% less likely to recidivate than those who do not complete a program. Over seventy percent of GED completers are successful after release

Vocational Programs:
The recidivism rate for the 1,793 inmates who earned a vocational certificate was 26.0% compared to 35.4% for those who did not complete a program. This reduction in recidivism (9.4%) translates into approximately 169 inmates not returning to prison. Avoiding the cost of their re-incarceration for one year would amount to cost savings of approximately $3.2 million.

Inmates who earn a vocational certificate are 14.6% less likely to recidivate than those who do not complete a program. Nearly three-quarters of vocational program completers are successful after release.
------
The excerpts above are from the FL DC Public website, link provided. I have read posts that suggest it is a waste of money to have “programs” that waste tax dollars, posts that think it is ok that Fl DC cut out the educational and vocational programs at 17 institutions statewide, and further reductions are on the horizon. It is hard to believe that the department seems unaware of its own statistics.

There are over 75,000 persons incarcerated in Florida. There are many thousands more who were. Most of these people have relatives who are eligible to vote, and a lot of those who were formerly incarcerated are regaining their own voting privilege. This is a humongous block of voters, which, if they work together can oust some of the legislators who do little more than line their own pockets at the expense of the citizens - all of the citizens - of this state.

This is not an election year, but 2006 is. There is ample time to begin research on the voting records of the incumbents. If they look shady, they probably are - vote them out. If you want a legislature that will make changes that you think need to be made, vote for the candidates who seem most likely to make these changes. Ask questions, send emails, get involved.

[bribri16]

18. A much worse record than Saddam had in Iraq at the height of his

rule and fighting his opposition.

[wli]

23. it's worse than the most oppressive regimes in history

Not even GULAG had anything like what was going on in the US even before the neocon neonazis defrauded the elections.

i.e. this was already the most repressive regime in history before the neocon neonazis' coup d'etat.

[MrSlayer]

20. Most are non-violent drug offenders.

And it's ridiculous. And the real truth is a lot of the violent ones wouldn't be there either if drugs were legal. Prohibition creates criminals.

[wli]

22. yes, a rather convenient way to purge Democratic voters

We need to sweep both houses on hotbutton issues like Iraq, Abu Ghraib, and their espionage scandals, then we can ensure a solid majority for all time by federally legislating all the convict disenfranchisement laws off the books (then hopefully set most of the nonviolent offenders free by sweeping numerous mandatory sentencing quackeries off the books).