Steve Sailer’s blog reprinted an interesting table on racial disparities in imprisonment rates. Liberal states imprison many more blacks relative to whites. The deep South has the most equal imprisonment rates. And the liberal states not only have high relative rates of black imprisonment; many have high absolute rates. A black is twice as likely to be in prison in Vermont as in Alabama. Why?
One commenter at the blog suggested that liberal states are relatively hard on repeat offenders, and blacks are more likely to be repeat offenders. Mr. Sailer wondered whether there is more black specialization in crime, e.g., do blacks go to Vermont to deal drugs but not for other occupations? A third possibility is that liberal states have more generous social benefits and more generous social benefits cause crime. It would be interesting to think of ways to test these against available data— they all rely on assumptions of fact.