The OP is calculating a ratio of the two rates. The rates already normalize for population sizes. 1.2% of black population vs. 0.1% of the white population gives a ratio of 12x. One thing to note: this data does not seem to include federal incarceration statistics for the state comparison maps.
ManWearingSandals t1_jed4pq5 wrote
Reply to comment by MrEZW in [OC] The United States Prison Crisis by cbarrettg
The OP is calculating a ratio of the two rates. The rates already normalize for population sizes. 1.2% of black population vs. 0.1% of the white population gives a ratio of 12x. One thing to note: this data does not seem to include federal incarceration statistics for the state comparison maps.