Professor Pamela Oliver Department of Sociology

Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice

US imprisonment rates are much higher than the rest of the world, and within the US,  African Americans are imprisoned at least eight times as often as European Americans, while American Indians and Hispanics are imprisoned at two to three times the European American rate.  The astronomical imprisonment rates of racial minorities in the US point to serious social problems.  Imprisonment rates for African Americans exceed those which are taken as evidence of human rights abuses in occupied minority territories in countries undergoing armed ethnic conflict.  There is good reason to believe that imprisonment for lesser crimes creates more problems than it solves.

We have been doing a lot of analysis of the patterns of racial disparities in Wisconsin and the US as a whole. This web site also includes links to reports, statistical resources, and advocacy groups in this area.

Wisconsin Data

Theory & US data

Others' Reports

Research & Advocacy Links

Local links

The Wisconsin Racial Disparities Project

This research has received partial funding from the University of Wisconsin's Institute for Research on Poverty. We are using public data to compare imprisonment and arrest rates for different racial groups, separating these rates by type of crime.  We have done some analyses comparing US states to each other, and have done a detailed county-level analysis of Wisconsin. Major findings:   

• Wisconsin has very high black prison admission rates which rose steadily through the 1990s, while Wisconsin's white incarceration rates rose modestly. Graphic Display
• A major source of the rise is increased probation and parole revocations, which rose for both races but more rapidly for blacks. Graphic Display
• Whites are primarily sentenced to prison for violent offenses and white prison admissions for violent offenses grew in the 1990s, while drug sentences actually declined somewhat. Graphic Display.
• By the late 1990s, most black new prison sentences were for drug offenses. Black sentences for drug offenses rose in the 1990s while sentences for serious crimes actually declined. Graphic Display

Reports About Wisconsin

We are using public data to compare imprisonment and arrest rates for different racial groups, separating these rates by type of crime.  We have done some analyses comparing US states to each other, and have done a detailed county-level analysis of Wisconsin.   

1. PowerPoint slide show with basic facts about escalating imprisonment in US, Wisconsin, and Dane & Milwaukee Counties. Subset of slides prepared for the DMC conference (item #2). PowerPoint slides Requires PowerPoint program to run. File size about 1.5 mg.
2. PowerPoint presentation to the Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission's Disproportionate Minority Confinement conference on February 4, 2002. This is a very long slide show with a couple of hundred slides. Requires the PowerPoint software. It is broken into three parts. Part 1: Overview and Wisconsin imprisonment patterns. Part 2: Comparing Wisconsin's counties in imprisonment. Part 3: County arrest statistics and conclusions.
3. Handout for Madison Urban Ministry forum on Community Policing March 19, 2002. 1) Handout to print and copy. PowerPoint slides printed 4 to a page in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Note: is designed to be read & printed in landscape format. 2) PowerPoint slides. Requires the PowerPoint program.
4. Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice: Madison and Dane County in Context. An outline report formatted as an Adobe Acrobat file so it can be downloaded and printed. Many graphics show how Wisconsin compares to the US and how Madison & Dane County compare to Wisconsin and Milwaukee County. Originally presented to the mayor on July 10, 2001, this version revised in Septemer 2001 contains some corrections and additions. Supporting Excel spreadsheets: Arrests Imprisonment Accounting for Disparities
5. Summary of Wisconsin & Wisconsin county imprisonment patterns relative to the "drug war." Prepared for CJAC conference in Milwaukee November 1, 2001.
6. Graphs and charts on Racial Disparities. Adobe Acrobat (PDF) color printout of PowerPoint slides, printed 4 to a page.
7. Wisconsin Prison Admissions 1990-1999 by race & county. Spreadsheets & analysis notes underlying the summary prepared for the CJAC conference.
8. Summary of Dane County black arrest & imprisonment patterns with emphasis on young offenders.

9. Racial Disparities in Imprisonment in Wisconsin  Written in 2000. Arrest and new imprisonment rates for blacks and whites by offense category; imprisonment rates by county and sex for blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians.  Data are for 1996. The report is an Adobe Acrobat file with tables in the appendix.  Excel spreadsheets for Wisconsin counties imprisonment rates data.   Map of Wisconsin Counties  (Link to Wisconsin Online, Inc. Map of Wisconsin counties.)

10. Uniform Crime Reports arrests of juveniles and adults in Dane County 1995, by race (converted to rates per 100,000 using 1995 Census estimates).  MS Word file. 

11. Handouts from the Peace-Filled Community forum March 20, 2001. Includes black and white copies of figures about Wisconsin from  slide show + Dane County and Milwaukee County new imprisonments by race and offense, 1996.    Click here to download MS Word file with lots of graphics.

12. Overview of Juvenile Justice Issues in Dane County, Wisconsin  Adobe Acrobat file.

13. Racial Disparities in Imprisonment.  Published in Money Educations and Prison newsletter and The Madison Times  Adobe Acrobat file. HTML file

Reports About the US as a Whole

1. Tables of State-Level Black and White Arrest and New Imprisonment Rates and Disparity Ratios for 1996. Data spources are National Corrections Reporting Program and Uniform Crime Reports for 37 states participating in both programs.  Acrobat PDF File.   Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file
2. A graphical model of the relation among poverty, politics, crime, and imprisonment  Adobe Acrobat file. It is important to remember that imprisonment does not directly reflect crime, but also political decisions, and that imprisonment feeds back into poverty and, thus, into the causes of crime.
3. View Slide Show On Racial Disparities in Imprisonment (It has some glitches but is packed with information and graphs.)  Topics include variations across time and between states; arrest and imprisonment disparities by offense group; theoretical discussion which shows why imprisonment may be causing crime.
4. Computation table decomposing imprisonment into components due to arrest and prison/arrest ratios. MS Word  or WordPerfect  or Adobe Acrobat
5. Research Proposal

Papers Related to My Talks Oct 4 (IRP) and Oct 16 (LDS/Law)

• Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice: Madison and Dane County in Context.
• Research Proposal

Local Community Activists Around Justice Issues

Madison area Urban Ministry's  Dialogue Series on Juvenile Justice

Money, Educations, and Prisons (MEP) Newsletter

Wisconsin Council on Children and Families .  The budget project includes reports on state budget issues, including corrections and juvenile justice.  Staff member Mark Wehrly  (608-284-0580) is available to help local activists research criminal justice policy and funding issues.

Some Important Reports 

American Society of Criminology Draft of National Policy White Paper "The Use of Incarceration in the United States"  November 2000.  National Policy Committee: James Austin, Marino A. Bruce, Leo Carroll, Patricia L. McCall, Stephen C. Richards.  Comments are requested by the authors.  Direct comments to James Austin

"Justice on Trial: Racial Disparities in the American Criminal Justice System."  Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.  A comprehensive review of racial profiling, prosecution and sentencing disparities, with recommendations.

Report on Minorities in the Juvenile Justice System from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

"And Justice for Some" report on racial disparities in juvenile justice.

PreventingCrime.org  "Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising" published by the National Institute of Justice, and other reports and links on preventing crime, including why trying juveniles as adults may backfire, and preventing gun violence.  Reports available in brief and longer versions.  Easy-to-read summaries of research.

Date this page last updated.  April 25, 2002

(Other Activism/Policy Links)

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Questions or Comments? Email Oliver@ssc.wisc.edu. Last updated April 30, 2002 © University of Wisconsin.