Racism is another reason.............

Race[edit]

See also: Race and crime in the United States and Racial inequality in the American criminal justice system

2009. Percent of adult males incarcerated by race and ethnicity.^[45]

According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) non-Hispanic blacks accounted for 39.4% of the total prison and jail population in 2009 (841,000 black males and 64,800 black females out of a total of 2,096,300 males and 201,200 females).^[46] According to the 2010 census of theUS Census Bureau blacks (including Hispanic blacks) comprised 13.6% of the US population.^[47][48][49] Of ethnic groups, native Black Americans,Puerto Rican Americans, and American Indians have some of the highest rates of incarceration.^{[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]} Though, of these groups, the black population is the largest, and therefore make up a large portion of those incarcerated in US prisons and jails.^{[clarification needed][59]}

Hispanics (of all races) were 20.6% of the total jail and prison population in 2009.^[46] Hispanics comprised 16.3% of the US population according to the 2010 US census.^[47][60] The Northeast has the highest incarceration rates of Hispanics in the nation.^[61] Connecticut has the highest Hispanic-to-White incarceration ratio with 6.6 Hispanic males for every white male. The National Average Hispanic-to-White incarceration ratio is 1.8. Other states with high Hispanic-to-White incarcerations include Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York.^[62]

As the Hispanic community is not monolithic, variations are seen in incarceration rates. Among the Hispanic community, Puerto Ricans have the highest incarceration rate. Located primarily in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, they are up to six times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, which may explain the higher incarceration rates for Hispanics overall in the Northeast region.^{[63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71]} Illegal immigrants, usually Mexican nationals, also make up a substantial number of Hispanics incarcerated.^[72][73][74]

In 2010 black non-Hispanic males were incarcerated at the rate of 4,347 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents of the same race and gender. White males were incarcerated at the rate of 678 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents. Hispanic males were incarcerated at the rate of 1,755 inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents.^[75][76] (For female rates see the table below.) Asian Americans, however, have lower incarceration rates than any other racial group, including whites.^[77]

Black majority cities have similar crime statistics for blacks as do cities where majority of population is white. For example, white-majority San Diego has a slightly lower crime rate for blacks than does Atlanta, a city which has black majority in population and city government.^[78]

In 2013, by age 18, 30% of black males, 26% of Hispanic males, and 22% of white males have been arrested. By age 23, 49% of black males, 44% of Hispanic males, and 38% of white males have been arrested.^[79]According to Antonio Moore in his Huffington Post article, "there are more African American men incarcerated in the U.S. than the total prison populations in India, Argentina, Canada, Lebanon, Japan, Germany, Finland, Israel and England combined." There are only 19 million African American males in the United States, collectively these countries represent over 1.6 billion people.^[80]