SJC Exchange Library

Originally posted by Wanda Bertram on 09/27/23.

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Hello all,

Today, we updated our state-level data on the race and sex of each state's prison and jail populations. This is one of our most requested, important, and valuable resources because it helps to quantify just how massive the racial disparities are in the criminal legal system. 

You can download the data here or from our Data Toolkit. What makes this dataset so powerful is that, unlike other sources for this info, ours provides apples-to-apples state comparisons in three formats: counts, rates, and percentages. We've done the math to standardize incompatible measurements found in the various original data sources. 

In addition to the data, we've also produced more than 100 new graphics showing specific characteristics of each state's racial disparities in incarceration. You can find these graphics on each of our state profile pages. 

We also produced a short blog post highlighting some key takeaways from the data, including:

• On average, states lock up Black people at six times the rate of white people.
• Many of the so-called "progressive states" like New Jersey, Connecticut, and California have the most significant racial disparities, locking up Black people at a rate up to 11.9 times higher than white people.
• Every state in the nation locks up Black people at at least twice the rate it locks up white people. 

We hope this data is useful in your work. Please reach out if you have any questions.

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Wanda Bertram
Communications Strategist
Prison Policy Initiative
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Originally posted by Wanda Bertram on 09/27/23.