The Census and Democracy: Maryland Fixes a Major Error

Eric Lotke — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:57:25 -0400

In the wake of the 2010 Census, Maryland passed a law yesterday that fixes a major problem. Maryland will now count people in prison where they actually live, not where they are confined. This first-in-the-nation law will improve the fairness and accuracy of Census data used to draw legislative boundaries.

18 percent of the population credited to Maryland House of Delegates District 2B (near Hagerstown) is actually incarcerated people shipped in from other parts of the state. In Somerset County, 64 percent of the population in the First Commission District is a large prison, giving each resident in that district nearly three times as much influence as residents in other districts. People in prison are generally not permitted to vote, but their bodies still count for purposes of legislative apportionment.

The problem goes beyond Maryland. The official rule of the U.S. Census Bureau is to count people where they are confined – even though most people sent to prison were convicted of relatively minor crimes and will serve less than three years, returning to their actual homes long before the next decennial census. The misplaced headcount distorts democracy.

The effect has racial and ethnic consequences as well. More people in prison come from urban, minority, Democratic-leaning districts. They are sent to prisons in rural, white, Republican-leaning districts. It’s not quite a return to the three-fifths clause, but the electoral impact leans in that direction. Nationwide, more than ten percent (pdf, table 19) of African American men in their twenties and thirties wakes up in custody in any given day. When I ran the numbers in 2005, the figure in Baltimore was one in five. These numbers are too high for all kinds of reasons – but the impact on redistricting carves it into the bones of our democracy.

Still, the Census Bureau has stubbornly refused to change its rules and count people in prison in the location that they come from and return to. It has conceded for the 2010 census to release its micro data early enough that states and counties who choose to can reassess prison jurisdictions in time for reapportionment. But Maryland sets a new standard by taking matters into its own hands. Technical matters of implementation will need to be worked out (they have ten years!) but the law states a clear legislative intent. Constituents are not exportable commodities.

Credit where due: Peter Wagner and the Prison Policy Initiative have been advocating for these changes for years. The New York Times has editorialized against it. And my own personal brag: I helped uncover this issue ten years ago, and published the first mainstream documentation in the Pace Law Review.

The governor and the legislature in Maryland just plain got it right. If enough other states follow their lead, the Census Bureau will have no choice but to do it right next time.

New U.S. Census Data: Same Reality

Alex Carter — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:27:42 -0400

Newly released data by the United States Census Bureau continues to show how much President George W. Bush has ravaged the American economic landscape.

Since 2000, median income has decreased 1 percent. That decline is magnified by the higher costs for energy, food and other items during that period; what families could buy for a dollar in 2000 now costs $1.25.

For some racial and ethnic groups, the burden is even heavier. In 2007, the median income for white people was $54,920; the median income for African Americans was more than $21,000 less. Median income for Hispanics was more than $16,000 less. Since 2000, white median income has decreased $12; for African Americans it has decreased $1,804, for Hispanics it has decreased $1,256, and for Asians it has decreased $1,030. Those are huge disparities that continue to lay bare the racial and ethnic inequality of America. There is no way around it.

Poverty follows a similar pattern. Since 2000, the number of people in poverty has increased by 5.7 million; the number of families in poverty has increased by 1.2 million, and the number of children in poverty has increased by 1.7 million. In 2007; 37.3 million people are suffering in poverty.

Almost 25 percent of African Americans and 22 percent of Hispanics lived in poverty in 2007. They do not want to be told the fundamentals of the economy are strong—or only have poverty addressed when a hurricane slams into poor and underrepresented communities and their faces, names, and stories become fodder for the 24-hour cable news channels. They want the American consciousness and political system to recognize their plight and put forth real policies to remedy this evil.

On health care, it's more of the same. Since 2000, the number of uninsured in America has increased by 7.3 million and those not covered equal 15.3 percent of the population. The percentages of Hispanics and African Americans without health care are well above the national average.

Nationally, the economy and the conditions for working people are worse since President Bush took office. Haven’t we learned that trickle-down economics does not work? We must revive our economy, take back our industries, and promote economic opportunity for all. Bush is definitely leaving us with a bang: In his last year; our economy is in a recession (even though the administration doesn’t want to admit it), families are poorer, people are losing their homes, energy costs are sky high and we continue to put billions and billions of dollars into the Iraq War—when we need strong investment here in the United States.

Be ready for the United States Census Bureau to release its 2008 data in August 2009. The data will continue to paint a very bleak picture: the poor will be poorer, the number of uninsured will be higher, and America will try to rebuild itself after eight years of economic terror. At that time, the progressive movement must be ready to reassure working-class families that the rescue—investments in our people, our common property and in the green energy that will power the fuure; economic policies that end the upward redistribution of wealth; the end of billions of dollars being sent to Iraq; and the empowerment of workers—is on its way.

minorities

The Census and Democracy: Maryland Fixes a Major Error

New U.S. Census Data: Same Reality