An interesting little mystery to park by the wayside

Hmmm. Don't quite know what to make of that. From Reaching a verdict on the era of mass incarceration by Charles Lane.

The discussion is about the trade-offs between crime and incarceration and the uniqueness of the US.

If we released all drug offenders, the incarceration rate would still be much higher than that of Europe. Ditto if we released all minorities. Nor are U.S. racial disparities unique. Canadian statistics show that, for unknown reasons, the black share of Canada’s prison population is three times that of the general population — the same as in the United States.

I didn't know that and I struggle to understand it. The US has a fairly distinct racial history quite different from that of Canada. Blacks are only 3% of the population in Canada compared to 13% in the US. I can't quite bring myself to believe that Canada is some hotbed of systemic judicial discrimination and racial hostility a la Alabama circa 1960.

A quick look at some Canadian statistics doesn't yield much of an explanation. Blacks in Canada appear to have about the same education attainment as whites. Its not clear whether they have the same workforce participation rate but it does appear that they are more often in lower skilled jobs than their education attainment would warrant. They also appear to earn only about 80% of whites at a household level (and not taking into account differences in professions, hours worked, etc.).

This dated but interesting account, The Complex Face of Black Canada by George Elliot Clarke, indicates that there is a disproportionate number of black, single, female-headed families in Canada but does not indicate a number. Clarke also indicates that black unemployment is half again as high as overall, 15% versus 10% (back in 1997).

So what's going on? No idea, but it is intriguing. An interesting little mystery to park by the wayside till other information drifts across the radar screen that might provide a credible answer.