Study: Iowa has Nation's Highest Prison Racial Disparity

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By Becky Ogann

Story Created: Jul 18, 2007 at 10:11 AM CST

Story Updated: Jul 18, 2007 at 10:11 AM CST

DES MOINES (AP) - A new study on racial disparity in prison shows Iowa is at the top of the list in the ratio of blacks to whites.

The study is by a Washington-based nonprofit criminal justice policy group, the Sentencing Project. In Wednesday's report, the group says blacks in Iowa are imprisoned 13.6 times the white rate in Iowa -- the largest disparity in the nation.

The group, which used Bureau of Justice Statistics from a 2005 publication, says blacks in Iowa are imprisoned at a rate more than double the national average, which is 5.6 times.

Paul Stageberg of the Iowa Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning says the study results aren't surprising, but the causes are subject to interpretation. He says the high black arrest rates in Iowa are likely linked to high poverty rates among blacks and lower educational achievement.

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