The “Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System” issued its final report (.pdf file) today, complete with detailed recommendations. The report notes that,
The United States Census Bureau statistics reviewed by the Commission revealed that Wisconsin has a population that is 86% Caucasian. By comparison, the statistics of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) reveal that 43% of the inmates in DOC adult facilities are Caucasian.
African-Americans comprise 6% of the overall population of Wisconsin, but also represent 45% of the population in the adult DOC facilities. Hispanics represent 4% of the state’s overall population, but 8% of the correctional population.
Despite these disparities, the question of the existence of discrimination in the criminal justice system remained.
There’s a lot to chew on in that last sentence. I won’t try to unpack it right now. I should note that Hispanics are often counted as white in the studies the Commission relied on, so it is likely that they represent a percentage of the correctional population higher than eight percent, reducing further the number of all other whites held.
It was reported to the Commission that
…for almost all offenses, Blacks are much more likely to get a new prison sentence than Whites. The exceptions are homicide, family offenses, DUI, and “other†drug sales. For most offenses, Blacks are at least twice as likely to draw a new prison sentence. For marijuana possession, Blacks are 11 times more likely to draw a prison sentence, and for opium/cocaine possession, 3 times more likely. These calculations showing a greater likelihood of arrests being converted to prison sentences for Blacks than for Whites are consistent with the Sentencing Commission’s analysis of sentences. [The report "Race and Sentencing in Wisconsin: Sentence and Offender Characteristics Across Five Criminal Offense Areas" was issued by the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission in August 2024. -- fp] These gross disparities do not tell us why this difference is occurring, but they definitely point to something that is happening within the system. In particular, they show that the high rates of prison sentences are not simply a function of crime and arrest, but also need to be attributed to something happening within the system.
The recommendations embedded in today’s report are lengthy and technical. They will need to be deconstructed in order to find the way through the process labyrinth and the Public Service jargon to a simple set of actions we can take to improve justice administration by eliminating the conditions that lead to disparities.
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And, in the “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time, Jackass” category, it has been reported by Highbrid Nation that nineteen year old Brian Purvis, one of the Jena 6 defendants, has been popped for assault when he went all aggro on some guy he accuses of messing with his ride. Damn, Brian! Didn’t your folks teach you any better than that?
2 Comments
Interesting last sentence indeed.
oughtn’t that to be “Because of these disparities? It’s the disparities that lead one to conclude rampant racism exists in the justice system. “Despite these disparities” leads on to think the opposite is the case, that the disparities would lead one to believe that racism does not exist.
The commission included those with vested interests in the system, police chiefs and the like. People working close to a problem often have an understanding of the issues that protects their self image and special interest. So the wording, “Despite these disparities…,” is meant to underscore the fact that the insiders remain in denial regarding discrimination. Their denial is buttressed by a complex rationalization that finds its way into the report.
My feeling is that we can find ways to reduce the disparities that will ultimately bring down the level of discrimination and if the discrimination is eliminated then so will the effects of entrenched racism be eliminated. But there is no way that we will ever give Sheriff Bubba a personality transplant, and he may remain racist to the day he dies, albeit a racist less likely to discriminate against other ethnic groups from his own.