← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Rick_Dean
Thread ID: 8250 | Posts: 2 | Started: 2003-07-19
2003-07-19 08:14 | User Profile
Minorities Fill Texas State Prisons :th:
Considering minorities commit the vast majority of crimes, even though they represent a fraction of the population in comparison to whites, prison is exactly where they belong. Too bad we can't lock every single one up for crimes they most likely will commit in the future.
Minorities fill state prisons
By Sonja Garza
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 07/16/2003 12:00 AM
AUSTIN ââ¬â While four in 10 Texans are either Latino or black, nearly seven in 10 residents locked up in state prisons are from the two minority groups, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Council of La Raza.
Details of the statistical brief, commissioned by the nation's largest Hispanic rights organization, were announced at the council's national conference, which ended its four-day run in Austin on Tuesday.
The group said the report's findings point to a disparity in the state's criminal justice system, where Latinos are over-represented.
"This has shown us a clear but stark picture of the reality of Latinos who spend their lives behind bars," said Angela Maria Arboleda, the council civil rights policy analyst.
"Our people are spending lots of time behind bars and sometimes for offenses that are not worth being behind bars," Arboleda said.
Larry Fitzgerald, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman, said the question of whether a disparity exists in Texas prisons is best answered by the court system.
"We only incarcerate who the courts send us," Fitzgerald said.
Texas houses the nation's second-largest prison population.
The National Council of La Raza report, by Michael Coyle, a doctoral candidate in justice studies at Arizona State University, cited low education levels and high poverty as two factors contributing to the large number of Latinos in prison.
In an effort to create awareness of the issues Latinos face in the legal system, and to focus on alternatives to incarceration, the council on Tuesday launched the National Council of La Raza Texas Criminal Justice Project.
To implement the project, the council is teaming up with nine community-based organizations in six cities, including San Antonio, Laredo and Uvalde, that offer services such as substance abuse treatment, mental health services, youth counseling and family services.
"Together and collectively, these organizations provide alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent, low-level offenders that need and deserve a second chance," Arboleda said.
The groups ââ¬â which include the Mexican American Unity Council, the First Mexican Baptist Church in San Antonio, the Community Council of Southwest Texas, and the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans ââ¬â will work to advocate for sentencing policy reform, the council said.
"It's an economic issue in addition to being a human rights issue," said Frances Terán, president of the San Antonio-based Mexican American Unity Council, referring to the costs of incarceration vs. rehabilitation.
2003-07-19 14:35 | User Profile
*"Our people are spending lots of time behind bars and sometimes for offenses that are not worth being behind bars," Arboleda said. *
Puh-leeze. One thing that all minorities have in common is the inability to take responsibility for their failures. It's like the movie "Shawshank Redemption" The inmates always ask what got you in there. When you say you are innocent, they laugh and reply: "everyone's innocent"
-Jay