The city of Madison is proud of its history as a progressive community of forward-thinking individuals. Consistently ranked favorably as a positive place to raise a family, Madison boasts an overall high standard of living and high level of education.
However, Madison resides in Dane County, which has one of the highest racial disparities of incarceration in the nation with ""over 50 percent of young African American males either in prison, on probation or on extended supervision"" according to county reports. In 2008's ""Ten Worst Places to be Black"" report by The Black Commentator, an online weekly publication, Wisconsin ranked number one.
In response to these disparities, the Dane County Equal Opportunities Commission worked with County Executive Kathleen Falk and County Board Chair Scott McDonell to appoint the Dane County Task Force on Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System in 2008.
The Task Force released their report and recommendations to the public in the fall of 2009.
Racial disparity is defined as a ""statistical pattern of racial or ethnic difference at a particular point in the criminal justice system,"" according to county reports.
If a black/white racial disparity of 10 occurs, then blacks in that area are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated for a particular offense than whites are. The existence of a racial disparity indicates that there is a problem within the criminal justice system which can be more clearly identified and specified by further statistical analysis.
During the period between 1999 and 2002, Dane County had arrest disparities ranging on average between 10 and 30, according to the Task Force.
""Blacks in Dane County were roughly 100 times more likely to be imprisoned on a drug sentence than whites—the second highest disparity in the nation (down from 150 earlier in the 1990s when Dane County was the highest); and about 23 times more likely to be sentenced for a non-drug offense, the nation's highest,"" the report stated.
Several factors contribute to a level of racial disparity that has reached ""crisis proportions"" in Dane County, as described by the Task Force report. But according to Task Force co-chair Celia Jackson, the root of the problem lies in the socio-economic differences that exist between black and white people.
""There is a big gap in understanding, between people of color andwhite people in Madison,"" Jackson said. ""People don't know how to talk to one another. People from cultural backgrounds do things differently.""
These differences have proven to be significant. Compared to a relatively stable white population, the black population is often in transition, moving between Chicago and Milwaukee. It is also much smaller, representing only 6 percent of Madison's population but making up between 25 and 30 percent of traffic stops, according to the report.
Large differences in the level of education and income also exist. ""Due to systematic inequalities, communities of color get the fewest benefits during economic booms and experience the largest deficits in economic downturns,"" the report said.
