Race,crime type and imprisonment

This paper largely replicates, within the state of North Carolina, Blumstein's (1982) national study of the effects of arrests on the racial disproportionality of the prison population. In agreement with the previous study, these data indicate that the racial difference between rates of arrest and imprisonment varies with the type of offense. The level of arrests failed to account for a sizeable amount of the racial differentials in imprisonment for drug offenses, forgery and driving under the influence. An unexpected finding is a lower than expected (by arrests) rate of black imprisonment for rape and robbery.