Is this assertion by the Christian Science Monitor true?

[Syrinx]

I was looking to nail supporters of former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour on another board. About his pardons of convicted murderers.

And I came across this little tidbit. Is this true?

Black-white incarceration disparities are highest in the Northeast and Midwest and, overall, lowest in the South. Iowa, for example, has a black-to-white incarceration of 13-to-1 while Mississippi's ratio is 3-to-1.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0121/Haley-Barbour-pardons-Why-were-the-forgiven-so-disproportionately-white

[Jim__]

1. According to this article from 2007, it is true.

Unfortunately, the article doesn't give a lot of explanation as to why this is, but it tries to give some explanation:

...


The Sentencing Project, a Washington-based organization, released the report today that examined the racial and ethnic dynamics of prison populations in the United States.

Using Bureau of Justice Statistics from a 2005 publication, the group said blacks in Iowa are imprisoned at a rate more than double the national average. Per 100,000 people, Iowa incarcerates 309 whites and 4,200 blacks, the study said.

Paul Stageberg, administrator of the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning, an agency in the Iowa Department of Human Rights, said the study results aren't surprising, but the causes are subject to interpretation.

'We've looked to determine whether or not there is a disparity in sentencing practices over the years and we haven't found any,' said Stageberg. 'We've done a recent review of how long people stay in prison and looked at that by race and essentially we've found for releases in fiscal 2006, that there really wasn't any significant difference in the length of time served by black and white inmates.'

Stageberg said that the disproportionately high black arrest rates in Iowa are likely linked to high poverty rates among blacks and lower educational achievement.

...

[Syrinx]

2. this news will shatter heads on DU

[Jim__]

3. A quick look at population stats for Iowa shows there are less than 100,000 African-Americans ...

... in the whole state: here

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I agree that it's all about poverty and low education.

The link below has figures on incarceration rates for all but 2 states; the figures were compiled in 2005. The black/white ratio in MS was 3 to 1, but about 12 to 1 in progressive Vermont. I don't think that people in VT are more racist than the people in MS, but I do think there is a greater disparity in income between blacks and whites in VT. The large amount of poor whites in MS makes the incarceration rates lower than in many other states. Figures on page 6:

http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_stateratesofincbyraceandethnicity.pdf

[Jim__]

5. Vermont also has about a 1% African-American population.

According to this stat: here. On the sentencing project page, the estimate is per 100,000 population; but there are only about 6200 African-Americans in the whole state.

I wonder what effect very small African-American population have on this. First, the numbers are extrapolated outside the actual population bounds. But also, when a state has a very small African-American population, I wonder if that contributes that population being more of an "outsider" population.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. There is a mainstream black culture here in MS.

There's a long history of a rather large black community here with a shared heritage. I doubt there's anything comparable to it in VT. I imagine that it's sort of like being gay in NYC versus being gay in some small rural town.