The four states that allow prisoners to vote, noted Houle, should show that the risk of letting prisoners vote is not that great. Some may point to the 1989 Virginia gubernatorial race as an example of how a small number can turn the tide of an electoral race. It was discovered after the fact that a number of felons had voted illegally in the election that Douglas L. Wilder narrowly won to become the first black governor in U.S. history. While the study stated that voter disenfranchisement is an effect of racial disparity, it also addresses some of the causes of increasing disparities, stating that the national prison population increase from 1988 to 1994 has been led by a 51.9 percent increase for violent offenders and a 155.5 percent increase for drug offenders. The study also states that from 1986 to 1991, there was a 465.5 percent increase in the number of blacks imprisoned for drug offenses in state prisons.
Police focus their resources there.
In October 1995 the U.S Sentencing Commission sought to equalize penalties for crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Despite professed concern about racial disparity, the study pointed out, Congress voted overwhelmingly to disapprove the recommendations and to leave current penalties intact. Mauer believes this debate didn't focus on the issues at hand and he would like to see less disparity between the two offenses. Houle agrees that the lower socioeconomic groups tend to be targets of law enforcement. Police always have and probably always will look at the lower socioeconomic groups for crimes involving stolen theft, robbery and vandalism because they are perceived to have the need and there is a perceived bitterness there.