By Marcus Henderson
Staff Writer
A new study reveals that rich Black kids are more likely to go to prison than poor White kids, The Washington Post reports.
|“Race trumps class, at least when it comes to incarceration”|
“Race trumps class, at least when it comes to incarceration,” said Darrick Hamilton of the New School, one of the researchers who produced the study, according to the March 23 Post article.
Hispanics were incarcerated more than Whites with similar wealth, but less than Blacks, the study concluded.
The study began in 1979 and followed a group of young people of various races and economic positions.
“About 2.7 percent of the poorest White young people – those whose household wealth was in the poorest 10th of the distribution in 1985, when they were between 20 and 28 years old – ultimately went to prison,” according to the article. “In the next 10th, 3.1 percent ultimately went to prison.”
It also stated that “their chances of being imprisoned were far less than those of Black youth from much more affluent circumstances.”
The information indicated 10 percent of affluent Black youths in 1985 would eventually go to prison.
In 2012, the household wealth of Black participants in the study who had never been incarcerated was $16,200.
Whites who had never been incarcerated had an average household wealth of $192,000.
Blacks who had been in prison had zero wealth at the median; Whites that had been in prison reported wealth of $5,000, the article reported.
