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| Study Finds Big Increase in Black Men as Inmates Since 1980 |
| By New York Times |
| Published: 09/09/2002 |
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The number of black men in jail or prison has grown fivefold in the past 20 years, to the point where more black men are behind bars than are enrolled in colleges or universities, according to a new study. The increase in the black male prison population coincides with the prison construction boom that began 1980. At that time, three times more black men were enrolled in institutions of higher learning than behind bars, the study said. The report was prepared by the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington-based research and advocacy group that supports alternatives to incarceration. The study found that in 2000 there were 791,600 black men in jail or prison and 603,032 enrolled in colleges or universities. By contrast, the study said that in 1980 there were 143,000 black men in jail or prison but 463,700 enrolled in colleges or universities. Some criminal justice experts said it was misleading to compare the two categories because the number in jail and prison includes all adult black men 17 years or older, while the number in institutions of higher learning is confined to a narrower student-age population in their late teens and early twenties. But Todd Clear, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, said the study's findings were still significant and 'tell us there has been a public policy far overemphasizing investment in criminal justice instead of in education for this population.' The study did not directly address why the number of black men in jail and prison climbed so quickly. Some experts suggested as one explanation a rise in the number of black men serving time for drug offenses. But Justice Department figures show that from 1990 to 2000, 50 percent of the growth in inmate populations at state prisons was for violent crimes, and that only 20 percent was for drug crimes. |
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