What Are the Odds You’ll Go to Prison?

Here are 50 white guys. Here are 50 black guys. Here’s how many white guys can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. The chances amount to 1 out of 17. Now here’s how many black guys can expect the same thing. The chances are 1 out of 3. Why? Lots of reasons.

It’s complicated, but one thing is clear: There’s racial bias at every level of the criminal justice system. When blacks and whites commit the same kind of crimes, blacks are more likely to be arrested. Once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted. Once convicted, they’re more likely to serve longer sentences.

Look at the numbers in [US] America’s so-called “War on Drugs.” About 14% of [US] American drug users are black, as are about a quarter of drug sellers. Yet blacks have 34% of the people arrested for drug crimes. And of those convicted of drug crimes, 46% are black. By the time we factor in sentencing, there are actually more black drug offenders than white ones in state prison and in federal prison.

In the end, the incarceration rate for drug crimes is ten times higher for blacks than it is for whites. These are the facts, racial disparity in America’s war on drugs is one big reason that 1 out of 3 black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime.