* Western and Pettit have shown that incarceration has become a routine life event for low-skilled black men—more common than serving in the military or earning a college degree (Pettit and Western 2004; Western 2006). The cumulative risk of imprisonment for black men ages 20–34 without a high school diploma stands at 68 % compared with
21 % of black men with a high school diploma and 28 % for white men without a high school diploma.
* In 1980, nearly 6 % of the adult male African American population had been to prison at some point (total prison/parole) compared with just less than 2 % of all adult men. By 2010, 15 % of African American adult males had spent time in prison versus 5.6 % of all adult males.
* These estimates are generally comparable with those obtained by other researchers applying different demographic techniques. Bonczar (2003) estimated that in 2001, 3 % of adults, 5 % of adult males, and 17 % of African American adult males had been to prison. Pettit and Western (2004) found that black men born between 1945 and 1949 had an 11 % chance of imprisonment, relative to a 21 % for the cohort of black men born between 1965 and 1969. These figures are generally congruent with our overall estimate that 15 % of black men had experienced imprisonment by 2010.
* California leads the nation with about 12 % of African American adults having a prison record.
* In California and Indiana, we estimate that at least one in four of all adult African Americans had a felony conviction history. Although it may seem implausible that more than 20 % of the African American adult population has a felony conviction history in such states, recall that at least 5 % of the African American population was currently under felony supervision in these states in 2010.
* Nationwide, approximately 8 % of all adults had a felony conviction as of 2010, but approximately 23 % of African American adults shared the same distinction. A staggering 33 % of African American adult males had a felony conviction by 2010.
