Disproportionate Minority Contact and Confinement

Disproportional Involvement and Treatment

Criminal justice statistics do not mirror those of the general population; minorities are more likely to have contact with, and be confined in, the criminal justice system. According to the 2006 Uniform Crime Report, Black adults accounted for 28% of arrests but were only 12% of the general population (Hispanic statistics were not included in this report). Additionally, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Black men comprised 41% of prison and jail populations; 4.8% of Black men in the United States were behind bars. Further, almost 2% of Hispanic men were incarcerated, but only 0.7% of White men were incarcerated. Similarly for adult women, Blacks were 4 times more likely to be incarcerated than Whites and 2 times more likely than Hispanics.

Juvenile statistics are just as disparate: According to the 2006 Uniform Crime Report, Black juveniles were 15% of the general population but 30% of total arrests or 51% of violent arrests and 32% of property arrests. In 2003 per the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Black youth were almost 4 times more likely than White youth to be incarcerated and 2 times more likely than Hispanics. Overall, minorities were held in custody at a per capita rate of 502, whereas the per capita rate for Whites was only 190. These juvenile and adult statistics suggest that disproportional minority contact and confinement exist in the United States.

Disproportionate minority contact and confinement have been explained by two opposing viewpoints of differential involvement and differential treatment. Differential involvement argues that whether for biological, sociological, or psychological reasons, minorities are more prone to criminal tendencies and commit more criminal acts. In other words, it is contended that minorities are more prevalent in criminal justice because by committing more deviant acts, minorities have a higher chance of being caught and subsequently arrested, sentenced, and incarcerated. Differential involvement is an offender-oriented explanation.

Differential treatment proposes that the criminal justice system operates in a discriminatory manner by selectively enforcing policies and procedures to harass minority populations. Minorities are overrepresented in criminal justice because decision makers respond to individuals in a prejudicial manner due to extralegal factors such as race and ethnicity. Differential treatment is a systemic explanation.

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