Chart of the Day: The Federal Sentencing Gap

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The U.S Sentencing Commission has released a new report detailing trends in federal sentencing over the past five years. There’s a good deal to sort through, but one big takeaway is that for the first time ever, the majority of federal felony convictions involved Hispanics—even though they make up just 16 percent of the total population. Here’s a chart showing the figures:

Data from U.S. Sentencing Commission.: Chart by Tim MurphyData from U.S. Sentencing Commission. Chart by Tim Murphy

There’s a pretty clear explanation for this. As the Associated Press notes:

The commission’s statistics also reveal that sentences for felony immigration crimes — which include illegal crossing and other crimes such as alien smuggling — were responsible for most of the increase in the number of Hispanics sent to prison over the last decade.

On the other hand, we’ve seen a boom in the private corrections industry in response to the spike in immigration-related offenses. So don’t expect anyone to actually do anything about this.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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