“While many assume that broad criminal justice reforms would automatically reduce racial disparities that have become so pervasive in the justice system, data tell us this simply is not the case.”
“A new Urban Institute online tool, the Prison Population Forecaster, allows users to see how different approaches to state criminal justice reform would affect the number of people in prison. In every state we looked at, broad cuts to the number of people in prison — both overall and within individual offense categories — do little to reduce the share of the prison population made up of people of color.”