n the United States, poverty, incarceration, and race are linked in complex ways, with much evidence that poverty may be both a cause and a consequence of incarceration. Black men are disproportionately more likely than white men to be arrested and incarcerated, a racial gap that first emerged in the early 20th century. In a new study, I explore the historical role played in that gap by education. I find that black men fully exposed to an expansion of rural primary schools between 1913 and 1932 were 1.9 percentage points less likely to be incarcerated later. This suggests that policies addressing disparities in education today may help reduce the persistent racial gap in incarceration.
Key Facts
- The black-white incarceration ratio grew from 3.1 in 1890 to 6.4 in 2010.
- Between 1913 and 1932, the Rosenwald program built almost 5,000 schools for rural black students across 14 southern states.
- Exposure to a Rosenwald school reduced incarceration rates of black men by approximately 2 percentage points.
Race, poverty, and incarceration are linked in multiple ways in the U.S., where incarceration may be both the result of, and a cause of, poverty.[1] The racial gap in incarceration emerged in the U.S. in the early 20th century. In 1890, black men were 3.1 times more likely to be incarcerated than white men. By 1923, the black-white incarceration ratio had grown to 4.2. In 2010, it stood at 6.4.[2] Police discrimination, harsh sentencing, and high crime rates in poor urban neighborhoods are partly to blame. But, given the strong correlation between education and many positive life outcomes, how might incarceration be related to differences in access to education?[3]
[For more on this policy brief by Katherine Eriksson, go to https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/po...-rates-incarceration]
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