From Philanthropy News Digest:

Racial disparities within the criminal justice system are among the most pressing problems facing criminal justice policy makers and practitioners, with Black individuals disproportionately bearing the brunt of system involvement and severe sentences, study from R Street Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit public policy research organization, finds. The study, Prosecutorial Roles in Reducing Racial Disparities in the Justice System (6 pages, PDF), found that Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at approximately five times the rate of white offenders, and Black men face disproportionately harsher incarceration experiences — including being more likely to be wrongfully convicted and given the death penalty.

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