New study reveals high percentage of Black Georgia inmates, despite national decrease in black incarceration
Reforms to law enforcement and sentencing of drug and property crimes have transformed criminal justice policies around the country; researchers note, however, that this still has not changed Georgia’s incarceration demographic.
Over the past four decades, mass incarceration has disproportionately affected people of color.
Since 2009, there has been a 25% decline in the total prison population, according to a new study by The Sentencing Project titled “One In Five: Ending Racial Equality in Incarceration.”
And while the study shows lower rates of African Americans incarcerated nationwide, Georgia itself lags behind in progression.
“Georgia’s only made a 17% reduction in its prison population since 2009,” says Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Co-Director of Research at The Sentencing Project.
“Georgia is one of only twelve states in the country where over half of the prison population is African American.”
African Americans make up 61% of Georgia’s incarcerated population, in contrast to the only 31% of Black residents who make up the state’s overall adult population.
According to the study, in 2021, Black Americans were imprisoned at 5.0 times the rate of their white counterparts.
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