U.S. Prison System and Its Populations Whites vs. Minorities

Course Project Outline Scenario #4 U.S. Prison System and its Populations: Whites vs. Minorities Kent Johnson SOCS350 Professor: Dr. J. Johnson June 7, 2010 Table of Contents General Statistics 3 Men vs. Women 4 Statistics: The Who and the Why 6 Black Judges vs. White Judges and Their Decisions 8 What is being done to reverse this Trend 10 References 11 Statistics In the prison system today, there has been an explosion of minorities being incarcerated for offenses that may not have gotten jail time if they had not been of a certain race. Although the overall numbers of incarcerations may have dropped just slightly for the first time in over 35 years, the amount of inmates†¦show more content†¦Many states have now revisited their policies on sentencing and release. That in turn has brought about some sweeping changes in how prisons content with parole and good behavior releases. Many states like Texas have gone as far as even increasing the grant rates for parole while shortening the terms of many of those that are given probation. These types of moves are one contributing factor in Texas being one state that has been able to reduce its overall prison populations for the past three years. Here is a map of states and the percentage increase/decrease of their perspective prison populations. Percentage Change in State Prison Populations , 2008 - 2009 | State | | | % CHG. | | | | | | | | | Alabama | | | 3.5 | | | Alaska | | | 3.8 | | | Arizona | | | 2.4 | | | Arkansas | | | 3.1 | | | California | | -2.5 | | | Colorado | | | -2.1 | | | Connecticut | | -4.6 | | | Delaware | | | -4.2 | | | Florida | | | 1.5 | | | Georgia | | | 1.6 | | | Hawaii | | | -1.1 | | | Idaho | | | 1.5 | | | Illinois | | | -0.7 | | | Indiana | | | 5.3 | | | Iowa | | | -3.2 | | | Kansas | | | 1.2 | | | Kentucky | | | -1.3 | | | Louisiana | | | 3.6 | | | Maine | | | 1.4 | | | Maryland | | | -5.6 | | | Massachusetts | | -2.2 | | |Show MoreRelatedInfluential Factors on a Juveniles Life1510 Words   |  6 Pagesstudents were minorities. Exposure to classmates who are poor has been rising for both Black and Hispanic students as well. 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