Racial Disparity in Arrest Rates as an Explanation of Racial Disparity in Commitment to Pennsylvania's Prisons

Abstract

The basic methodology of former studies of the net effect of criminal justice processing on racial disproportionality in America's prisons has the potential to advance understanding of this issue. But aggregation of data at the national level and/or over offenses among other weaknesses limits the utility of the previous findings. The authors employ positive aspects of the methodology of the studies in analyzing Pennsylvania data for 1991 to 1995. The total percentages of explained disproportionality are substantially lower than other studies. The same explained disproportionalities and those for individual offenses are also far lower than another study from national data, and low percentages of explained disproportionality for some offenses suggest that high levels of racial discrimination may be operative. In particular, implementation of the war on drugs seems fraught with injustice toward Blacks. Explained disproportionality is fairly stable over time, indicating reliability for the conclusion that racial discrimination in Pennsylvania's criminal justice system seems greater than some earlier studies show.