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Stohr4e_PPT_11.pptxChapter 11: Minorities and Corrections
Introduction: Minorities and Corrections (1 of 3)
Race and ethnicity of America’s population have shaped laws and practices
Full citizenship denied non-White persons
May entities historically treated people differently based on race and ethnicity
Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials 4e
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11.1: Define the terms race, ethnicity, disparity, and discrimination.
Introduction: Minorities and Corrections
The race and ethnicity of America’s population have shaped its laws and practices from the beginning.
Full citizenship denied to those who were not White in the U.S. Constitution.
Police agencies, courts, correctional institutions and programs, and actors in these entities have historically treated people differently on the basis of their race and ethnicity.
In some regions, minority group members were more likely to be incarcerated when they were innocent or sentenced for periods that were longer than their White brothers and sisters.
Minority group members could also be segregated into separate institutions, sections of institutions, and programs, which may have contributed to their receiving less-desirable jobs and housing.
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Introduction: Minorities and Corrections (2 of 3)
Defining Race, Ethnicity, Disparity, and Discrimination
Race: refers to skin color and features of group
Ethnicity: refers to differences between groups of people based on culture
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11.1: Define the terms race, ethnicity, disparity, and discrimination.
Defining Race, Ethnicity, Disparity, and Discrimination
Race: Refers to the skin color and features of a group of people. It is based on biology.
The human race likely originated in Africa, spreading over thousands of years across the globe.
Intermingling, both historically and currently, among groups, results in populations that are substantially mixed rather than distinct in their “racial” heritage. For this reason, racial designations such as White, Black, or Asian might be helpful in examining any unfair advantages enjoyed by a racial group.
However, designations are and always will be somewhat arbitrary; this will only increase in more racially mixed societies.
Ethnicity: Refers to the differences between groups of people based on culture. An ethnic group often has a distinct language as well as particular values, religion, history, and traditions. Ethnic groups may be made up of several races and have diverse national heritages.
The terms Hispanic and Latinx may refer to groups that include White, Black, and Asian racial backgrounds but a common cultural heritage.
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Introduction: Minorities and Corrections (3 of 3)
Disparity and Discrimination
Disparity: one group is treated unfairly by governmental actors
Discrimination: people or groups treated differently because of who they are
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11.1: Define the terms race, ethnicity, disparity, and discrimination.
Disparity and Discrimination
Disparity: Occurs when one group is treated differently and unfairly by governmental actors, compared with other groups.
Can happen in many organizations and entities, not just criminal justice.
Discrimination: Occurs when people or groups are treated differently because of who they are (e.g., on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or identity, or income) rather than their abilities or something they did.
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A Legacy of Racism (1 of 15)
Correctional institutions and programs are products of larger social, political, and economic environments
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
A Legacy of Racism
Correctional institutions and programs as social institutions are products of their larger social, political, and economic environments, and therefore the legacy of racism has affected and continues to affect their operation.
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A Legacy of Racism (2 of 15)
African Americans
Slavery involved the involuntary servitude of Black Africans by White Europeans
Correctional institutions devised to maintain slavery
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
African Americans
Slavery in the United States generally involved the involuntary servitude of Black Africans by White Europeans and was practiced almost from the settling of the country (Davis, 2008).
Practice of slavery was protected in the Constitution, which benefitted the many Founding Fathers that owned slaves.
Lucrative business for ship owners in colonial and U.S., both northern and southern, and for southern plantation owners; slaves provided the backbreaking agricultural labor that was the cornerstone of the burgeoning southern economy.
Even after the Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment legally ended the institution of slavery in 1865, it persisted in spirit for 100 years through rampant discrimination.
Correctional institutions, particularly in south following the Civil War, were devised to maintain slavery system.
Newly freed and often unemployed Blacks incarcerated for minor or trumped-up charges and leased out to southern farmers for work on the same plantations on which they or their brethren had been slaves (Oshinsky, 1996; Young, 2001).
In the North and Midwest, African American inmates were sometimes segregated from Whites in prisons and jails and given substandard housing and the least desirable work assignments (Hawkes, 1998; Joseph & Taylor, 2003).
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A Legacy of Racism (3 of 15)
African Americans
Scottsboro: exemplified racist attitudes of communities
Lynchings of Black men practiced in many states
Hate groups highly active well into the 1900s
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
African Americans
Scottsboro case exemplified racist attitudes of communities and how they were translated into discriminatory practices by criminal justice entities.
Lynchings of Black men practiced in many states and communities following Civil War.
Reinforced a culture of fear that prevented racial equality for African Americans.
Hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan were highly active well into the 1900s.
The Klan’s avowed purpose was to target and persecute Catholics, Jews, and non-Whites—especially African Americans—and it was particularly active in the South and in the Midwest.
Membership was widespread among public and criminal justice officials in the first half of the 1900s and even included those who rose to such lofty heights as the Supreme Court and Congress.
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A Legacy of Racism (4 of 15)
African Americans
Until civil rights movement, institutional racism apparent in criminal justice and other organizations
Marked decline in incarceration of Black men and women in jails and prisons
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
African Americans
At least until the civil rights movement, institutional racism (or racism practiced by many, if not most, institutional members) was apparent in criminal justice and other organizations.
Civil rights movement had to morph into prisoner rights movement before correctional institutions were forced to change to a more equitable standard of treatment.
There has been a marked decline in the incarceration of Black men and women in jails and prisons: From 2008 to 2018, African American incarceration decreased by 28% in both jails and prisons, the lowest level it has been since 1990 and 1989, respectively.
In 2015, the Black-to-White ratio for children placed in residential correctional facilities was 5.03:1, and for Latinx youth it was 1.65:1.
However, this was also a small part of a larger drop in overall placement rate for all youth (60% lower rates).
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A Legacy of Racism (5 of 15)
Native Americans, or American Indians
At arrival of Columbus’s ships, there were as many as 20 million native people in North America
Influx of Europeans relocated American Indians onto reservations
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Native Americans, or American Indians
At the time of the arrival of the first of Columbus’s ships, there were reportedly as many as 20 million native people residing in North America.
Within a few short decades, those populations had been decimated by disease (smallpox mostly), wars, and massacres.
Influx of European immigrants relocated American Indians, often forcibly, off their lands and onto reservations.
Such reservations, at least initially, were in essence forms of correctional institutions.
Land was usually less desirable than the land the tribe originally resided on and often inadequate to support the survival of that tribe.
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A Legacy of Racism (6 of 15)
Native Americans, or American Indians
Impacts on the insufficiency of reservations to support tribes
Federal policy: efforts to respect and preserve unique identity and cultures
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Native Americans, or American Indians
The insufficiency of reservations to support the tribe that lived on them resulted in a population that was:
Poor, underfed, undereducated.
Limited in their ability to regain land, wealth, and way of life.
Federal policy has shifted from imposed segregation from white communities, aggressive efforts to integrate tribal members into larger society, and more current efforts to respect and preserve their unique identity and cultures.
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A Legacy of Racism (7 of 15)
Native Americans, or American Indians
567 federally recognized tribes in the United States, and many tribes do not have this recognition
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Native Americans, or American Indians
Currently, there are 567 federally recognized tribes in the United States, and there are a number of tribes that have not received or sought this recognition.
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A Legacy of Racism (8 of 15)
Native Americans, or American Indians
Reservations: minor criminal offending falls under jurisdiction of tribe
Number of Native Americans in prisons disproportionate
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Native Americans, or American Indians
On large reservations, more minor criminal offending by tribal members falls under the jurisdiction of that tribe.
Felony offenses or off-the-reservation criminal activity by tribal members might be handled by the tribe, the state, or the federal government.
Large reservations may maintain their own jails for the accused and those convicted who receive a short incarceration sentence.
80 jails in Indian country in 2016, and the number of inmates confined in those jails has been increasing.
Despite the existence of separate legal and correctional systems to process minor offenses, number of Native Americans in federal and state prisons is often disproportionate to their representation in the larger population of that state.
The incarceration rate for Native Americans and Alaska Natives in jails was 401 per 100,000, or more than 2 times the White rate of 187 per 100,000.
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A Legacy of Racism (9 of 15)
Hispanics, or Latinx
Hispanic: designates ethnic group that spans many races and nations of origin
Mexican American land forcibly made part of the United States.
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Hispanics, or Latinx
Term Hispanic is used to designate an ethnic group that spans many races and nations of origin to the point where it may not be descriptive (Martinez, 2004).
Latinx, which has been used instead of Hispanic, is a more gender neutral and gender inclusive term than Latino, and locates this ethnicity more in Latin America.
National heritage–specific terms, such as Mexican Americans, Puerto Rican Americans, and Cuban Americans may be preferred by those groups. Each of these groups has a distinct history with the United States, which has often included discrimination.
The history of Mexican Americans, the largest subgroup of Latinx in the United States, has been one in which they and their land were forcibly made part of the American Southwest.
As a result of the Mexican–American War, which lasted from 1846 to 1848, Mexico lost almost half of its land.
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A Legacy of Racism (10 of 15)
Hispanics, or Latinx
Mexican American and Cuban American population in border states
Arizona law allows law enforcement to demand papers from anyone they suspect might be in the country illegally
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Hispanics, or Latinx
In border states today, the numbers of Mexican Americans and Cuban Americans are so high and their assimilation into the culture so thorough that the existence of a clear racial or ethnic majority group has disappeared or has become the Latinx group itself.
The increased number of Mexican Americans in these states and the immigrants crossing over the southern border into the United States from South and Central America have sparked a political debate over immigrants and whether they should be accorded citizenship rights.
At the center of the debate is an immigration law in the state of Arizona that allows law enforcement there to demand papers from any person whom they suspect might be in the country illegally, without further cause.
Accented by the Trump Administration’s efforts to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, intended in part to prevent asylum-seekers from Latin America from reaching the United States.
Civil libertarians and civil rights groups allege that these actions have resulted in discrimination against Hispanics in Arizona.
Reports of mistreatment from individuals held in immigration detention facilities indicate a growing issue.
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A Legacy of Racism (11 of 15)
Hispanics, or Latinx
Number of Latinx adults in jails and prisons generally decreasing
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Hispanics, or Latinx
Number of Latinx adults in jails and prisons has generally been decreasing, though perhaps not as much or as steadily as it has for African Americans.
The jail incarceration rate for Latinx was down by 34% from 2008 to 2018.
At 182 per 100,000, jail incarceration rate is less than the current rate for Whites of 187 per 100,000.
There was virtually no change, however, in the number of Latinx adults sentenced to prison from 2008 to 2018, even as the numbers of Whites and Blacks decreased by 13.9% and 21.5%, respectively. Rates of incarceration did, however increase, which suggests this seemingly stable numbers is actually a result of quickly increasing populations of Hispanic people within the free population.
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A Legacy of Racism (12 of 15)
Asian Americans
Japanese and Chinese immigrants, looking for better life
Chinese individuals barred from owning property and voting in some states
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Asian Americans
Japanese and Chinese immigrants, among other unique cultural groups, were looking for a better life for themselves and their families.
Primarily settled in western states.
Heavily involved in mining and agriculture.
Chinese labor was crucial to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad (1863–1869).
Chinese individuals were later barred from owning property in some states and from voting in others:
Made do by engaging in service professions like laundries and restaurants.
Settled together in one region for comfort and safety.
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A Legacy of Racism (13 of 15)
Asian Americans
Asian immigrants were blamed for taking jobs from poor Whites
Japanese immigrants provided cheap labor
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Asian Americans
When economies soured in some of those cities or states, Asian immigrants were blamed for taking jobs from poor Whites.
A familiar theme in American racial prejudice.
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was directed at reducing immigration from China (Wei, 1999).
Some of the nation’s first drug laws attempted to criminalize opium dens from the 1870s onward, feeling that Chinese immigrants were “corrupting” the White population with the drug.
Japanese immigrants also provided cheap labor in railroad construction, agriculture, restaurants, and many other businesses in the American West.
When Chinese immigrants were excluded, Japanese immigrants filled the gap.
Found their own immigration and rights to land ownership also restricted in 1908.
Many nonetheless earned a living growing crops on leased land.
As economic strength grew, they were increasingly likely to be run out of town by the White population.
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A Legacy of Racism (14 of 15)
Asian Americans
Internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans in 1942 in 10 inland concentration camps during World War II
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Asian Americans
The internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans in 1942 in 10 inland concentration camps during World War II, along with the confiscation of their property, was not based on the actual threat they presented to the safety of western states.
Based on racism-tinged beliefs about who could be trusted and on ignorance regarding the allegiance that such citizens felt for this, their country.
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A Legacy of Racism (15 of 15)
Asian Americans
Asian Americans underrepresented in correctional organizations
Not all Asian Americans successfully integrate into American society
Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials 4e
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11.2: State some of the history of minority group members in this country.
Asian Americans
Asian Americans tend to be underrepresented in correctional organizations in relation to their representation in the general population for unclear reasons.
Likely related to tight-knit and supportive families and communities and the value those cultures have placed on education and achievement.
These values often lead to higher incomes and education.
Not all Asian Americans successfully integrate into American society, and refugees from war-torn Cambodia and Vietnam were more likely to have contact with the criminal justice and corrections systems.
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The Connection Between Class and Race or Ethnicity (1 of 2)
Americans often averse to recognizing existence of class system in the United States.
May spring from revolutionary origins of the United States.
Systems allow people in lower classes to advance
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11.3: Explain the connection between class, race or ethnicity, and crime.
The Connection Between Class and Race or Ethnicity
Americans are often averse to recognizing the existence of a class system in the United States.
May spring from revolutionary origins of the United States.
Economic, political, and social systems have allowed people in lower classes to advance through ingenuity, education, or drive, or some mix of those, to the middle or upper classes.
Upward mobility is hampered by poverty and related ills.
Community recovery from long-term and systemic discrimination may take generations, making it difficult to advance.
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The Connection Between Class and Race or Ethnicity (2 of 2)
Americans often averse to recognizing existence of class system in the United States.
Certain racial and ethnic minorities more likely to be poor
Reduction in drug war prosecutions has also reduced minority incarceration rates
Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials 4e
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11.3: Explain the connection between class, race or ethnicity, and crime.
Americans are often averse to recognizing the existence of a class system in the United States.
Certain racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be poor and thus caught up in the criminal justice system and overrepresented in correctional institutions and programs.
Race and traditions of discrimination regarding African Americans have stymied their ability to assimilate.
Language barriers and discrimination regarding race have also prevented some Latinx Americans, American Indians, and Asian Americans from moving to the middle and upper classes.
Targeting illegal drugs and their use and has had a disparate impact on minority groups such as Hispanics and African Americans.
Reduction in drug war prosecutions has also reduced minority incarceration rates, especially for African American men and women.
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Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration (1 of 6)
Most minority groups overrepresented in an area of corrections are disproportionately poor
Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials 4e
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11.4: Examine why the criminal justice system has not been race neutral in its treatment of minorities.
Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration
Most minority groups overrepresented in an area of corrections are disproportionately poor and more likely to be accused or convicted of street crimes.
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Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration (2 of 6)
The Drug War: The New Jim Crow?
“Tough on crime” rhetoric used to justify modern drug war
Michelle Alexander: drug war focused on poor and minorities
Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials 4e
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11.4: Examine why the criminal justice system has not been race neutral in its treatment of minorities.
The Drug War: The New Jim Crow?
A “tough on crime” approach initiated by President Richard Nixon was the beginning of the rhetoric used to justify the modern drug war.
Efforts were stymied by the fact that law enforcement was (and still is) primarily a responsibility of the states and their counties and cities.
Ronald Reagan coined the phrase “war on drugs” and pursued funding for prisons and law enforcement to fight this drug war.
Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump all continued to fund and sometimes expand the federal drug war, which has resulted in an unprecedented mass incarceration in which racial minorities are overrepresented.
Michelle Alexander (2010), in her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, asserted that the modern drug war has been focused on the poor and minorities while ignoring the fact that most drug users and drug sellers are White. Contributors to this unequal environment include:
Police sweeps of poor and minority neighborhoods.
Hyperfocus on small-time marijuana possession charges.
A nonsensical emphasis on crack cocaine over powder despite their similar chemical and biopsychological profiles.
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Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration (3 of 6)
The Drug War: The New Jim Crow?
Jim Crow laws: devised by southern states to prevent African Americans from fully participating in social, economic, and civic life
Stohr, Corrections: The Essentials 4e
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11.4: Examine why the criminal justice system has not been race neutral in its treatment of minorities.
The Drug War: The New Jim Crow?
Jim Crow laws: Laws devised by southern states following the Civil War, starting in the 1870s and lasting until 1965 and the civil rights movement, to prevent African Americans from fully participating in social, economic, and civic life. These laws restricted the rights and liberties of Black citizens in employment, housing, education, travel, and voting. Voter disenfranchisement, or preventing African Americans from voting, was a key part of the Jim Crow laws.
Felony charges, no matter how minor, can significantly impact: employability, access to public aid, and voter disenfranchisement, much like century-old Jim Crow laws.
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Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration (4 of 6)
Crack Versus Powder Cocaine
Sentencing disparity occurred when possession treated as 100 times worse than powder
Harsher sentencing has had practical and discriminatory effects
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11.4: Examine why the criminal justice system has not been race neutral in its treatment of minorities.
Crack Versus Powder Cocaine
Sentencing disparity occurred when possession treated as 100 times worse than powder under federal law in the 1980s.
This judgment was tied to the race and class of the persons associated with each drug.
Poorer, disproportionately Black and Latinx individuals tended to use cheaper crack cocaine; wealthier White people tend to use powder.
Media sensationalism contributed to the erroneous belief that crack cocaine was more harmful or addictive than its powder counterpart.
The harsher sentencing for crack cocaine possession is another example of a current criminal justice policy that even the U.S. Sentencing Commission concedes has had the practical and discriminatory effect of vastly increasing the incarceration of African Americans and Hispanics.
Although the law was changed in 2010, sentencing for crack cocaine are still harsher than those of powder cocaine at the federal level (18:1 instead of the 1986 law’s 100:1).
State laws may also perpetuate the crack-powder sentencing disparity.
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Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration (5 of 6)
Racial Profiling and Driving While Black or Brown
Racial profiling can have similar effect to the drug war
Driving while Black or Brown (DWB): police focusing law enforcement attention on Black or Brown drivers
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11.4: Examine why the criminal justice system has not been race neutral in its treatment of minorities.
Racial Profiling and Driving While Black or Brown
Scholars note that racial profiling by the police can have a similar effect to that of the drug war and its propensity for increasing minority involvement as the accused or convicted in corrections.
Driving while Black or Brown (DWB): Refers to the practice of police focusing law enforcement attention on Black or Brown drivers.
The research in this area has been mixed between a significant effect and no verified effect on arrests.
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Minorities: Policies and Practices That Have Resulted in Increased Incarceration (6 of 6)
Racial Profiling and Driving While Black or Brown
Other factors which may be the source of disparity
Black and Latinx drivers more likely to report being stopped by police
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11.4: Examine why the criminal justice system has not been race neutral in its treatment of minorities.
Racial Profiling and Driving While Black or Brown
Other factors which may be the source of the disparity:
Police officers tend to stop older vehicles, and such cars are often owned by poorer and minority group members.
Langan and colleagues found in a review of BJS data from a police and public national contact survey that Black and Latinx drivers were more likely to report being stopped by the police than were Whites.
Minority group members were more likely to report negative criminal justice outcomes for themselves, such as being ticketed, arrested, handcuffed, searched, or subjected to the use of force by officers when stopped.
Nuances of these stops might depend on shade of skin; Black and Black Hispanics were more likely to report that racial profiling was widespread and that they were racially profiled than were Whites or non-Black Hispanics.
The more stops one is subjected to, the more likely one is to run afoul of the law and to enter a correctional institution, such as a jail, or to find oneself on probation (Hawkins, 2005).
May also result in the building of a record that contributes to further convictions or sentencing.
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Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration (1 of 6)
Victor Hassine (2009): race integral part of his prison experience
Voluntary segregation and racially biased treatment by staff common
Most staff identified as Christian, while a sizable proportion of the Black inmates were Muslim
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11.5: Discuss the special challenges faced by minority group members in corrections.
Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration
Victor Hassine (2009), a writer and inmate who had been doing life since 1980 in Pennsylvania prisons for a capital offense, commented that race was and is an integral part of his prison experience.
Voluntary segregation in housing and by gangs were common, as was racially biased treatment by staff.
Most of the staff in this prison identified as Christian, while a sizable proportion of the Black inmates were Muslim.
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Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration (2 of 6)
Victor Hassine (2009): race integral part of his prison experience
Many inmates come from urban areas, while many staff from rural settings
Differences led to difficult adjustment for minority inmates
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11.5: Discuss the special challenges faced by minority group members in corrections.
Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration
Victor Hassine (2009), a writer and inmate who had been doing life since 1980 in Pennsylvania prisons for a capital offense, commented that race was and is an integral part of his prison experience.
Many inmates tended to come from urban areas, while many staff were raised in more rural settings.
These differences led to a difficult adjustment for minority inmates.
Mirror inmate complaints in the Attica Prison riot of 1971.
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Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration (3 of 6)
Racial mix of staff more likely to reflect that of community where inmates come from
“Color line” still divides inmates
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11.5: Discuss the special challenges faced by minority group members in corrections.
Today, the racial mix of staff is more likely to reflect that of the community where inmates come from, which has tended to reduce race as a source of conflict between staff and inmates.
“Color line” still divides inmates into Blacks, Whites, and Latinx.
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Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration (4 of 6)
Victimization by Race and Ethnicity
African Americans more likely to report sexual or physical violence from staff
Non-Hispanic Whites more likely to report victimization by other inmates
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11.5: Discuss the special challenges faced by minority group members in corrections.
Victimization by Race and Ethnicity
African Americans were more likely to report sexual or physical violence from staff than from other inmates.
Non-Hispanic Whites were more likely to report victimization by other inmates than by staff.
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Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration (5 of 6)
Victimization by Race and Ethnicity
Hispanics had above-average reporting of victimization by both staff and other inmates
All three groups report roughly equal amounts of victimization
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11.5: Discuss the special challenges faced by minority group members in corrections.
Victimization by Race and Ethnicity
Hispanics had above-average reporting of victimization by both staff and other inmates.
All three groups report roughly equal amounts of victimization, just from different sources.
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Minorities: Adjustment to Incarceration (6 of 6)
Probation or Prison?
Some research indicates Black offenders may prefer prison over community alternative sentencing
Reasons for this preference
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11.5: Discuss the special challenges faced by minority group members in corrections.
Probation or Prison?
Some research indicates that Black offenders may prefer prison over community alternative sentencing, whereas White offenders express the opposite preference.
Black offenders less willing to participate in alternative sanctions, with a preference for prison time.
Reasons for this preference in Black offenders:
Blacks might be more able to accept prison and adjust to it over alternatives because they are more likely to find people they know housed there.
Less likely to be threatened by prison life after acclimation to the violence and deprivations of cities.
Community alternatives may subject them to abuse and harassment and ultimate revocation of their probation anyway.
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Minorities Working in Corrections
Did not increase until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed and affirmative action plans developed
Number of minorities employed in corrections has increased substantially
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11.6: State the statistics related to employment of minorities in the correctional system.
Minorities Working in Corrections
Did not increase until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed and affirmative action plans were developed to encourage such employment.
Number of minorities employed in corrections, although not always reflective of their representation in the community (particularly regarding minority group women), has increased substantially.
Data in this area are not always consistent or up to date.
Black non-Hispanics in 1999 accounted for 23.7% of local jail correctional officer employees, which was greater than their representation in the general population. 19.5% of employees in state/federal prisons in 2004, and 24.% of correctional officers in federal prisons in 2004 were also non-Hispanic Black individuals.
On the other hand, non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics are underrepresented among staff when compared with their representation in those communities.
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