US Supreme Court in 2023

[Marylander]

I live in Maryland, home to a just, equitable society. Discrimination has no home here!

Really?

https://justicepolicy.org/research/poli ... -maryland/

Maryland leads the nation in incarcerating young Black men, sentenced to the longest prison terms, at a rate 25% higher than the next nearest state — Mississippi.

State has incarcerated the highest percentage of people who are Black in the country, more than twice the national average.

Punitive sentencing policies and restrictive parole release practices in Maryland have resulted in a deeply racially disproportionate criminal justice system that is acutely impacting those serving the longest prison terms. This is true despite a declining prison population and state leadership in Maryland having undertaken criminal justice reform in recent years. As recently as July 2018, more than 70 percent of Maryland’s prison population was black, compared to 31 percent of the state population. The latest data from the Department of Justice show that the proportion of the Maryland prison population that is black is more than double the national average of 32 percent. These disparities are rooted in decades of unbalanced policies that disproportionately over-police under-resourced communities of color, and a criminal justice system focused on punitive sentencing and parole practices.

. . . .

Maryland has the most extreme racial disparities for those incarcerated for long terms in the United States. That should alarm Maryland leadership and its residents. These disparities are rooted in policing practices that target communities of color, a lack of investment and opportunity in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and an overly punitive sentencing, parole, and corrections system that focuses on punishment with insufficient attention given to programming and rehabilitative services that have been proven to improve public safety outcomes.

Will read the article when I have some time.
Maryland is a very blue state and is home to Baltimore which has a large African American population. So it's plausible.

[Marylander]

I live in Maryland, home to a just, equitable society. Discrimination has no home here!

Really?

https://justicepolicy.org/research/poli ... -maryland/

Maryland leads the nation in incarcerating young Black men, sentenced to the longest prison terms, at a rate 25% higher than the next nearest state — Mississippi.

State has incarcerated the highest percentage of people who are Black in the country, more than twice the national average.

Punitive sentencing policies and restrictive parole release practices in Maryland have resulted in a deeply racially disproportionate criminal justice system that is acutely impacting those serving the longest prison terms. This is true despite a declining prison population and state leadership in Maryland having undertaken criminal justice reform in recent years. As recently as July 2018, more than 70 percent of Maryland’s prison population was black, compared to 31 percent of the state population. The latest data from the Department of Justice show that the proportion of the Maryland prison population that is black is more than double the national average of 32 percent. These disparities are rooted in decades of unbalanced policies that disproportionately over-police under-resourced communities of color, and a criminal justice system focused on punitive sentencing and parole practices.

. . . .

Maryland has the most extreme racial disparities for those incarcerated for long terms in the United States. That should alarm Maryland leadership and its residents. These disparities are rooted in policing practices that target communities of color, a lack of investment and opportunity in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and an overly punitive sentencing, parole, and corrections system that focuses on punishment with insufficient attention given to programming and rehabilitative services that have been proven to improve public safety outcomes.

Will read the article when I have some time.
Maryland is a very blue state and is home to Baltimore which has a large African American population. 60% in a 2010 census

Here is what Wikipedia says:

"Crime in Baltimore, generally concentrated in areas high in poverty, has been extreme for many years. Overall reported crime has dropped by 60% from the mid-1990s to the mid-2010s, but homicide rates remain high and exceed the national average. The worst years for crime in Baltimore overall were from 1993 to 1996; with 96,243 crimes reported in 1995. Baltimore's 344 homicides in 2015 represented the highest homicide rate in the city's recorded history—52.5 per 100,000 people, surpassing the record ratio set in 1993—and the second-highest for U.S. cities behind St. Louis and ahead of Detroit. Of Baltimore's 344 homicides in 2015, 321 (93.3%) of the victims were African-American.[citation needed]"

Notice: citation needed
93% of the victims were African American.

I have been in supermarkets in Baltimore where I was the only Caucasian in the store.

[Josh]

Baltimore has some of the highest per-pupil spending on schools, and Maryland has strict gun laws. Apparently, neither of those things make much of a difference when it comes to violent crime.

So your opinion is that the disparities exist because more black kids get arrested? How do you explain the disparities?

Sliceitup, the most logical explanation is that if a certain demographic (such as young males vs. elderly females) gets convicted far more often, perhaps they commit far more crimes.

[Ken]

Baltimore has some of the highest per-pupil spending on schools, and Maryland has strict gun laws. Apparently, neither of those things make much of a difference when it comes to violent crime.

Neither does your approach of locking people up at rates that far exceed totalitarian regimes like Iran.

[Robert]

Baltimore has some of the highest per-pupil spending on schools, and Maryland has strict gun laws. Apparently, neither of those things make much of a difference when it comes to violent crime.

Neither does your approach of locking people up at rates that far exceed totalitarian regimes like Iran.

I remember Josh stating that people need to quit committing crimes. I do not remember him calling for locking people up. Feel free to show me where he has called for that and I may support your statement. If not, I support his call for people to stop committing crimes as a way to lower incarceration rates.

[Josh]

Baltimore has some of the highest per-pupil spending on schools, and Maryland has strict gun laws. Apparently, neither of those things make much of a difference when it comes to violent crime.

Neither does your approach of locking people up at rates that far exceed totalitarian regimes like Iran.

Locking up violent criminals does keep the innocent safe from violence, though. Do you have a better solution to keep people safe from violent offenders?

[Ken]

Baltimore has some of the highest per-pupil spending on schools, and Maryland has strict gun laws. Apparently, neither of those things make much of a difference when it comes to violent crime.

Neither does your approach of locking people up at rates that far exceed totalitarian regimes like Iran.

Locking up violent criminals does keep the innocent safe from violence, though. Do you have a better solution to keep people safe from violent offenders?

Stop producing so many in the first place. How about that?

[Robert]

Stop producing so many in the first place. How about that?

How is Josh or any of the rest of us here doing that?

[Josh]

Neither does your approach of locking people up at rates that far exceed totalitarian regimes like Iran.

Locking up violent criminals does keep the innocent safe from violence, though. Do you have a better solution to keep people safe from violent offenders?

Stop producing so many in the first place. How about that?

Yet they are already here, so what should be done with them? I think innocent victims should come first, not violent perpetrators.

[Ken]

Locking up violent criminals does keep the innocent safe from violence, though. Do you have a better solution to keep people safe from violent offenders?

Stop producing so many in the first place. How about that?

Yet they are already here, so what should be done with them? I think innocent victims should come first, not violent perpetrators.

Today we are reaping the results of decisions we made 10, 20, 30, even 40 and 50 years ago.

In 10, 20, and 30 years we will still be reaping the results of decisions we make today. That is how the world works.