One of the chief indictments social reformers make against the criminal justice system is that it is rigged against blacks and Hispanics, who, they claim, don’t get a fair shake from judges, prison officials, parole officials or politicians. A New York Times analysis published over the weekend of some 60,000 disciplinary cases found that guards punish black male prisoners at twice the rate of white men.
A study published Monday by the Times shows that the racial bias in New York is especially evident in parole decisions. The Times says, “the racial disparity in parole decision in the state is perhaps the most dramatic manifestation of a broken system.”
Parole is early freedom for prisoners who acknowledge their mistakes and behave well while incarcerated. The Times analyzed nearly 14,000 parole board decisions for male inmates from the past several years and found that one in four white inmates were released at their first hearing, whereas one in six black or Hispanic inmates was released at his first hearing.
The disparity was especially wide for inmates serving short sentences. White inmates serving two to four years for a single count of third degree burglary were released after an average of 803 days, while black inmates served an average of 883 days — about 10 percent longer.
The disparity was also significant for minor felonies. For third degree burglars with no prior criminal record, the board released 41 percent of white male inmates and 30 percent of blacks and Latinos.It was also apparent for younger criminals. For prisoners under 25 years old, 30 percent of whites and just 14 percent of blacks and Hispanics were released.
Part of the problem, the Times found, was that the parole process is often a hurried and chaotic assembly-line process in which parole board commissioners must cram 80 inmates cases into just two days a week. Inmates typically get less than 10 minutes to plead their cases at parole hearings, which are almost always done via video screen. That saves time and money, but it also prevents parole board commissioners from getting to know the inmates, which is essential to discerning whether or not they’re fit to be freed. The time crunch means some commissioners come in with their minds made up and rulings pre-drafted. There have been numerous cases of inmates with the same name getting thrown into the same case file.
The Times acknowledges that it is impossible to know whether race is a factor in any specific parole decision. But it states that “a pattern of racial inequality is clear when the data are examined on a large scale.”
The Times took into account factors other than race which may have played a role in the disparity, such as age, criminal background and the nature of the crime committed. And the reporters acknowledge that they didn’t have access to all the possible variables that may contribute to the differences, such as complete prison disciplinary records or inmates’ time in county jail.
So are New York State’s parole boards racially biased? The Times story makes a reasonable case that they are. But read it and decide for yourself.
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
