NEBRASKA- Black Nebraskans are incarcerated at nearly nine times the per-capita rate of White residents, according to a study released Wednesday by a national research and advocacy group.

Iowa ranks slightly worse with Blacks incarcerated 9.3 times as often as Whites. That Black-White differential is tied for fifth among states. Nebraska ranks No. 8 on the list.

Both states have markedly higher rates of disparity among their incarcerated populations than the nation as a whole, where Black Americans are put in state prisons at almost five times the rate of White Americans.

The 25-page report was written by senior research analyst Ashley Nellis of The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit group that works on criminal justice advocacy.

The report has three policy recommendations: Eliminate mandatory minimum sentences, assess the racial impact of new crime legislation, and stop arrests and prosecutions in low-level drug offenses.

Ryan Spohn, the director of the Nebraska Center for Justice Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said those suggestions are sound and what he and other researchers have recommended to Nebraska state legislators.

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