1 of 9 Black Children in U.S. Has a Parent in Prison

[The Straight Story]

1 of 9 Black Children in U.S. Has a Parent in Prison

America’s growing prison population over the last several decades has resulted in more and more children growing up without a parent, most often a father being the one behind bars.

A report from the Pew Charitable Trusts reveals that more than half of all prisoners in the U.S., or 1.2 million inmates, are parents of children under the age of 18. Fathers make up the vast majority of this total, 1.1 million, while the rest are mothers (120,000).

About 40% of all incarcerated fathers are black, and one out of nine black children (11.4%) in the country has a parent in prison or jail.

Among the other findings in the Pew report:
• More young (20 to 34-year-old) African American men without a high school diploma or GED are currently behind bars (37%) than employed (26%).
• 2.7 million children have a parent behind bars—1 in every 28 children (3.6%) has a parent incarcerated, up from 1 in 125 just 25 years ago. Two-thirds of these children’s parents were incarcerated for non-violent offenses.
• Previous research has shown that children with fathers who have been incarcerated are significantly more likely than other children to be expelled or suspended from school (23% compared with 4%).

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and has a larger total inmate population than the 35 largest European countries combined.

http://www.allgov.com/Top_Stories/ViewNews/1_of_9_Black_Children_in_US_Has_a_Parent_in_Prison_101001

[HipChick]

1. are blacks are treated unfairly in the justice system?

[Posteritatis]

2. You could say that. (nt)

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. yep. more likely to go to prison for the same crime, longer sentences

[SocialistLez]

7. I got a few books you can read to answer your question:

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Let's Get Free by Paul Butler
The Race to Incarcerate

Youtube is also a good resource:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikuV1DMzehk

[thetonka]

3. Less laws = less criminals

How many of those that are incarcerator are there for trivial or non-violent crimes, regardless of skin color?

I think the stat about education and employment is more relevant than ethnicity. After all that bit about kids with dads in jail, how many of those dads were actually dads when they were free? How many would be dads if they were released? Donating DNA does not make you a dad.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Your headline statistic needs to on a scolling marqee in Times Square.

America needs to own that.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. Threefold problem:

1) America locks up too many people overall
2) Blacks commit more crimes per capita than other demographics
3) The courts are more likely to sentence blacks harshly for a given crime than other demographics.

Addressing the first would be very easy but probably unpopular; moves like decriminalising marijuana would make a moderate improvement.

Addressing the second would be very hard, but make the biggest difference - crimes rates are only one symptom of massive problems with much of modern african-American culture not found in other sections of American culture.

Addressing the third would be easier than the second but not as easy as the third, but since it probably contributes less to the problem than either of the other two it probably has the least room to cause improvement.

[SocialistLez]

8. 2 could easily be traced to high levels of poverty and racism on the part of the police.

I suggest you read "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander