Pubdate: Wed, 28 Aug 2002
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Fox Butterfield, New York Times

MORE BLACK MEN IN PRISON THAN COLLEGE, STUDY SAYS

Some Cite Prison-Building Boom Since '80

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 study released Tuesday.

The increase coincides with the prison construction boom that began 1980. 
Then, black men enrolled in institutions of higher learning outnumbered men 
behind bars by a 3-1 ratio, the study said.

The report was prepared by the Justice Policy Institute, which supports 
alternatives to incarceration.

The study found that in 2000 there were 791,600 black men in jail or 
prison, and 603,032 were enrolled in colleges or universities. By contrast, 
the study said that in 1980, 143,000 African-American men were in jail or 
prison while 463,700 were enrolled in colleges or universities.

Policy criticized

Some criminal-justice experts cautioned that it was somewhat misleading to 
compare the number of black men in jail and prison with the number in 
colleges and universities, because the number in jail and prison included 
all adult black men ranging upward from 17 years old, while the number in 
institutions of higher learning was confined to a smaller age range.

But Todd Clear, a professor of criminal justice at John Jay College in New 
York, said the study's findings were still significant, suggesting "a 
public policy far overemphasizing investment in criminal justice instead of 
in education for this population of black men."

Incarcerations rise

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.

During the prison building boom of the past two decades, the number of 
Americans of all races in jail or prison quadrupled, from 502,000 in 1980 
to 2.1 million in 2000, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In 
that same period, the number of Americans of all races attending colleges 
and universities rose from 12.1 million to 14.8 million, according to the 
National Center for Education Statistics.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Tom