Kaylyn M. Williams
DeVry University
According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, “One in every three black males can expect to go to prison at some time in their life…” (Huffington Post). This fact in itself is staggering, but when you compare it to the fact that only one in six Latino males and one in 17 white males will be incarcerated it is alarming. It begs the question why? Why are black males so much more likely to end up in prison than those of another minority? This paper aims to answer that question. We will compare criminal incidents, conviction rates, and time served for all three races in order to identify what factors could be leading to this disproportion and we will investigate what variables can be associated with race and how it divides crime in our country. …show more content…
The Sentencing Project “work for a fair and effective U.S. criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration” (2013, p. 2). They outline that African-American males are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white males and 2.5 times more likely than Hispanic males (The Sentencing Project, 2013, p. 3). In 2011, the US Bureau of Justice pointed out that, “Racial minorities are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, they are more likely to face stiff sentences” (Table