General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Bernie admits need to get schooled on African-American incarceration* [View all]George II
(67,782 posts)That "per 100,000" isn't with respect to ALL residents, it's with respect to residents of the two races under discussion. There aren't 100,000 black residents in Vermont, there are only 8,000, so the number of blacks in prison in Vermont (about 300) has to be multiplied by 12.5 to get a "per 100,000" rate (100,000 / 8,000 = 12.5).
That's how to get to the two numbers in the report - about 300 per 100,000 for whites, and about 3700 per 100,000 for blacks - 11 times the rate.
Let's look at it in raw numbers rather than "rate".
There are 625,000 residents in Vermont
There are 595,000 white residents in Vermont, 2,000 of which are in prison.
There are 8,000 black residents in Vermont, 300 of which are in prison.
So:
The % of white residents in prison is 0.3% of all white residents (2,000 / 595,000 )
The % of black residents in prison is 3.7% of all black residents (300 / 8,000 )
That 3.7% is the previously mentioned 11X the number of black residents that are in prison.