Wisconsin is among the worst in U.S. in Black incarceration: Here’s the data

Arrest and incarceration records once again show that Black Wisconsinites are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. 

This is according to a report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum released earlier this month, which among other things publishes findings on an increasingly aging prison population, more drunk driving and violent crime offenses, and a slight improvement in racial disparities for Black people but not for Native Americans. 

The data shows that Black people are five times more likely to be arrested in Wisconsin than their white counterparts. Most data for Latino people affected by the criminal justice system isn’t tracked. 

Although white people accounted for a majority of arrests in 2023 (67.5%), Black people represent more than a quarter (25.3%) of arrests, which is significantly higher than the 6% of Black people living in Wisconsin. 

Black people are far more likely to be victims of crime as well, including making up a majority (57%) of the state’s homicide victims. White Wisconsinites (79.9%) were less likely to be victims of crime (72%) than their statewide share of the population.

In court cases, white people make up a majority of defendants, but Black people and Native Americans are overrepresented.

For incarceration, Gov. Tony Evers has taken steps to try and combat Wisconsin’s prison population, which declined during COVID-19 but has since rebounded. 

Incarceration rates for the state’s Black and Hispanic populations have declined, but Wisconsin still had the second-largest Black-white disparity in incarceration rates in the nation after Vermont, according to 2022 data. 

Black Wisconsinites were more than 12 times more likely to be incarcerated that year than white Wisconsinites.

Also, the number of white people under community supervision in Wisconsin has decreased since 2019, while the numbers of Black, Hispanic, and Native people have grown.

The report also publishes some findings on youth incarceration and government spending on corrections. To read the full report click here.

Drake Bentley can be reached at drake.bentley@civicmedia.us.