That there is a disproportion of blacks to whites in the prison population is indisputable, though I'm not going to pretend to know why that is (other than the reasoning I put out in the original post). However, even in predominantly white states (Montana, Idaho, Alaska, etc.) the incarceration rates are still high. Rich, in an above post, asks why the black man is in jail, then answers himself by saying that he did the crime. That's fine and dandy and all, but the chances are the white guy did it too, he could just afford a better attorney, and therefore a better defense. While there is some good debate going on as to economic injustice in black vs white, the only one I've seen touch on the incarceration issue as a whole is BT, who pointed out drug crimes and "revenue enhancement".
We have seizure laws allowing police and governments to confiscate vehicles, land, houses, cash, valuables. This is the ultimate "revenue enhancement". I think that the cop was in the stall next to Larry Craig not in order to really cut back the bathroom sex rate, but to get more money for the police. The whole system is for profit, the police benefit, the attorneys benefit, the government benefits, the prison and related industries benefit. The only ones who don't benefit are the convicted and society as a whole.
Personally, I do a lot of prison outreach volunteer work with my local St. Vincent De Paul and Catholic Community Services charities. I see the effect of people getting out of prison with no job skills, no rehabilitation (for most), nowhere to go, no employment or housing opportunities. Until we as a society and culture begin to address some of the issues leading to incarceration, and what to do with the incarcerated, this is a circle that won't be unbroken.
I don't know about other states or the Federal prison system BT, but here is the crime breakdown for incarceration in Washington State (these are rough estimates, not exact, and I don't have any data regarding prior arrests).
Property Crimes: Burglary, theft, arson, fraud etc. 25%
Sex Crimes: Molestation, rape, kidnapping etc. 20%
Personal Crimes: Assault, homicide, manslaughter 25%
Drug Crimes: Possession, distribution, manufacturing 30%
If you include the effects of drugs on the other crime categories, then drug crimes would be drastically higher, i.e. the burgler who steals to support a habit, the killing of a drug dealer, things like that.
So, an open question to the forum: Is there a better way to correct the problems of society than to incarcerate high numbers of citizens?