Unpacking the Sources of Racial Disparities in Imprisonment Rates: A County-Level Assessment

• In Event: Race, Gangs, and Criminal Justice Policy Potpourri

Abstract

Research examining aggregate racial imprisonment disparities reveals significant variation in the magnitude of such disparities across the United States. While several scholars have explored the possible explanations for the observed racial disproportionality during the mass incarceration era, they have focused on state-level data that may mask significant within-state variation in the outcome. What is more, while the few published studies examining contemporary racial disparities in imprisonment rates have documented several key social and political correlates, they have overlooked the possibility that historical factors may play a role in the observed contemporary patterns. The present study aims to redirect research on aggregate racial imprisonment disparities by examining the social, political, and historical conditions that can explain the county variation in the black-white gap in prison admission rates using a dataset constructed to capture a twenty-year stretch of the contemporary imprisonment binge in America.

Author

• Ashley N. Arnio, Texas State University