Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Prison Admissions Across Counties: An Evaluation of Racial/Ethnic Threat, Socioeconomic Inequality, and Political Climate Explanations

• Author: Katherine A. Durante
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368717738038
• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Date: 01 April 2020
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Racial and Ethnic Disparities

in Prison Admissions Across

Counties: An Evaluation of

Racial/Ethnic Threat,

Socioeconomic Inequality, and

Political Climate Explanations

Katherine A. Durante

1

Abstract

Previous macro-level studies of racial and ethnic disparities in prison admissions have

focused narrowly on differences in offending and have limited their analyses to

national- and state-level data. This study explores three alternative explanations for

inequality in prison admissions for Blacks and Latinos compared to Whites: racial/

ethnic threat, socioeconomic inequality, and the political and legal climate. I analyze

data from multiple county- and state-level sources and employ hierarchical linear

modeling techniques to examine the role of both county- and state-level factors in

producing inequality in county-level prison admission rates. Findings indicate that

Black–White disparities are lower in jurisdictions with greater shares of Black citizens;

however, the reverse is true for Latino–White inequality. For both comparisons,

political conservatism is associated with less inequality. Results also indicate that

counties with greater parity in income and employment across race/ethnicity and that

are located in the South have reduced racial/ethnic disparities in prison admissions.

I argue that the presence of large shares of African Americans and of Republican

voters, in addition to southern location, are likely better indicators of total prison

admission rates than of racial/ethnic disparities in prison admissions.

Keywords

conflict theory, criminological theories, race and courts, race and sentencing, African/

Black Americans, race/ethnicity, Latino/Hispanic Americans

1

Nevada State College, Henderson, NV, USA

Corresponding Author:

Katherine A. Durante, Nevada State College, 1300 Nevada State Drive, Bldg. 100, Henderson,

NV 89002, USA.

Email: katherine.durante@nsc.edu

Race and Justice

2020, Vol. 10(2) 176-202

ªThe Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368717738038

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African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at more than 5 times the rate of

Whites, and this disparity is at least 10 to 1 in five states.

1

Latinos are also dis-

proportionately incarcerated but at approximately 1.4 times the rate of Whites (Nellis,

2016). The overrepresen tation of racial and ethnic minorit y groups in U.S. prisons is

largely a result of changes to sentencing policies, including the War on Drugs, which

enacted harsher laws and penalties such as mandatory minimum sentencing policies

for offenders (Western & Wildeman, 2009). In 1980, there were about 580,000

arrests for drug-related crimes in the United States. As a result of policy changes, by

2005, this number increased to nearly 2 million (Zilney, 2011). Contemporaneous to

the increase in drug arrests in the 1980s, national sentencing guidelines shifted,

which made criminal offenders more likely than ever to be incarcerated (Hamilton,

2014). In short, prison moved from the last resort option to the predominant public

policy model.

Racial and ethnic minorities have been disproportionately impacted by tough-on-

crime policies for three key reasons. First, they are arrested and imprisoned for drug

crimes at rates much higher than their proportion of the population, of drug users, and

of drug traffickers (Alexander, 2010; Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and

Quality, 2016; Tonry, 1995). The 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

estimated that 53.4%of Whites, compared to 47.7%of Blacks and 38.8%of Latinos

over the age of 12 years have ever used an illicit substance (Center for Behavioral

Health Statistics and Quality, 2016). The limited research on drug dealing finds that

most users purchase from dealers of their own race (Riley, 1997). Yet two thirds of

persons incarcerated for drug offenses in state prisons are Black or Latino (Mauer,

2009). Taken together, the data indicate that minorities do not use or sell drugs at

higher rates than Whites yet face disparate penalties. Tonry (1995, p. 94) argues that it

was clear from the outset that the War on Drugs would target young, urban dis-

advantaged Blacks and Latinos.

The second reason minorities have been disproportionately hurt by tough-on-

crime policies is due to ostensibly race-neutral practices and laws. A dispropor-

tionate number of Blacks are arrested for drugs due to police targeting low-level

dealers (Goode, 2002; Tonry, 1995) and users and dealers of crack cocaine

(Beckett, Nyrop, & Pfingst, 2006; Beckett, Nyrop, Pfingst, & Bowen, 2005).

Police also focus on drug deals made in the inner city (Goode, 2002) and outdoors

(Beckett et al., 2005, 2006; Goode, 2002; Riley, 1997). Additionally, minorities

are more likely to face harsh punishment after arrest. Since African Americans are

overrepresented in U.S. cities, they are more likely to have their sentences

enhanced due to race-neutral factors such as living near a school zone or a park

(Schlesinger, 2011).

Finally, differences in arrests and offending have led to minorities facing disparate

impacts of tough-on-crime policies. In 2012, roughly 13%of the population identified

as Black compared to 38.5%of those who were arrested for violent crimes (U.S.

Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI], 2012). Since ethnicity

measurements are missing from most criminal justice data, it is unknown how many

arrestees are Latino (Eppler-Epstein, Gurvis, & King, 2016). However, Steffensmeier,

Durante 177