If You're Black, This City's Status as Liberal Bastion Is Just a Myth
Category: IMPACT
Despite making up only 10% of Madison, Wisconsin's population ages 12-17, Black youth make up 60% of the detention-facility population; black youth are six times more likely to be arrested than white youth, compared to a 2:1 national ratio. The point here is that Madison isn't some national outlier regarding these statistics, but proof that even the most "progressive" of places are not immune from a criminal-justice system that is archaic, ineffective, and most of all, unjust. It prioritizes retribution over redemption, punishes poverty, and bars too many from reaching future success.
By Savion Castro, ContributorUW PEOPLE Scholar, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2015-04-09