(Akiit.com) According to a study presented at the recent meeting of the American Sociological Association, the astounding increase in the nation’s prison population since the 1970s is having “profound demographic consequences that disproportionately affect black males.â€
The study found that the jump in incarceration rates represents “a massive intervention†in Black families and may be responsible for lowered rates of fertility, increased and involuntary migration to rural areas as well as greater exposure to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS.
The study was compiled by University of Washington researchers Becky Pettit and Bryan Sykes.
According to Pettit, the justice system “has become more punitive†and one result is that 1 of every 100 Americans is currently behind bars and nearly 60 percent of those are young, most low-income Black males.
This fact, she suggest, has led to an increased number of men not producing children and the resulting drop in the Black fertility rate.