Weâ??ve heard a lot of talk about the staggering racial disparities in the stateâ??s criminal justice system in recent years. Wisconsin has routinely ranked at or near the top of states for the rate at which it locks up blacks compared with whites. And Dane Countyâ??s progressive reputation has been tarnished by the rate at which it sends black offenders to prison – nearly half of black men between the ages of 25 and 29 residing in the county are either incarcerated or under court-ordered supervision.
According to a study by Pam Oliver, a UW sociology professor, black men in Dane County are 21 times more likely to be incarcerated than white men. And according to a Justice Policy Institute report in 2007, black men in Dane County were 97 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug crimes, the second-highest rate in the nation.