Institute Associate Counsel Andrea McChristian writes for the Star Ledger:

It's usually a good thing to be No. 1. New Jersey, however, is a leader in two intolerable ways: Our state has the highest rate of black-white youth incarceration disparity and the highest rate of black-white adult state prison incarceration disparity in the country.

A black child in New Jersey is 30.64 times more likely to be incarcerated than a white child, according to a fact sheet by the Sentencing Project. This is a rate double that of the second state on the list, Wisconsin...

So what's the root cause of the racial disparities?

Racial discrimination. These striking racial disparities reflect racially discriminatory circumstances that determine which kids get prison and which kids do not.

To read the full OpEd, please click here.