Monthly Archives: July 2015

The Prison Policy Initiative has compiled incarceration rates by race/ethnicity using data from the 2010 census. While Massachusetts’ white and black incarceration rates are low among states, its black rate is 6 times its white rate. Massachusetts’ 1:4 white-Hispanic incarceration rate disparity is roughly equal to its white-Hispanic poverty rate disparity.

As the graphics in this post demonstrate, the concentration of prisoners in poverty areas closely tracks the concentration of crime in those areas.

Property offenses figure much larger in the House of Corrections population than in the state prison population — violent offenses are still the largest group at 36%, but property offenses are close behind at 33%, whereas property offenses account for only 9% of the state prison population. Violations of per se drug laws account for essentially the same proportion as at the state level — approximately 15%.

Most state prisoners have committed violent offenses, sex offenses or property offenses. Many people are under the incorrect impression that most offenders in state prison are there for drug offenses, but persons convicted of drug offenses are currently only 15% of the prison population.

Like the state prison population, the House of Correction population swelled rapidly through the 80s and into the 90s. However, the House of Correction population has dropped further from its peak level and now stands at roughly half the DOC population.

Many states have concluded that they have gone past the balance point into the zone of where incarceration costs exceed benefits and they have undertaken reforms to reduce incarceration. Even after their widely admired reforms, their incarceration rates are far above the incarceration rate in Massachusetts. But we cannot infer that Massachusetts is more wisely lenient than other states without a much finer analysis of crime rates and local conditions.