The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women's Incarceration

• In Event: Analyzing Changing Tends in Incarceration by Race and Offense

Abstract

It is well documented that the rate of increase of women’s incarceration has far outpaced that of men since the 1980s. Black/white racial disparities in the rate of incarceration have persisted since that time, although not as dramatically as for men. An analysis of recent changes shows that these disparities declined substantially in the period 2000 – 2009, with the black/white ratio of 6:1 in 2000 dropping by half, to 2.8:1 by 2009. These changes appear to result from shifts in arrests and incarceration for drug offenses as well as socioeconomic shifts that have particularly affected less-educated white women. These findings suggest that changes in policy and practice can produce substantial effects on rates of incarceration and that policymakers would benefit from conducting similar analyses at the state level.

Author

• Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project