In 2015, 58% of African American males currently serving sentences of one year or more were sentenced for a violent crime. Only 15% were incarcerated for a non-violent drug offense.  One of the main reasons for a disproportionate amount of African American males in prison has to do with the war on drugs which was a result of a tough on crime approach created by policymakers in the 1980s. The growth in the U.S. prison population is attributable to “tough on crime” policies and legislation, mainly the passage of strict drug laws at the federal and state levels.As a result, thousands of African Americans have been imprisoned and served longer sentences. Additionally, studies show that Black men are 5 times more likely to commit crime compared to their white counterparts, and 10 times more likely than Asian Americans.Low income urban neighborhoods that are predominately black or latino are heavily policed and they are searched by the police."The drivers of racial disparities include biased decision making in the criminal justice system, poverty, education outcomes, unemployment history, and criminal history."There is also racial biases that affects judges in the criminal justice system when judging African Americans.

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Black male incarceration and mortality

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In 2006 an estimated 4.8% of Black non-Hispanic men were in prison or jail, compared to 1.9% of Hispanic men of any race and 0.7% of White non-Hispanic men. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Structural barriers are often listed as the reason for the current trends in the African American family structure, specifically the decline in marriage rates. Imbalanced sex ratios have been cited as one of these barriers since the late nineteenth century, where Census data shows that in 1984, there were 99 black males for every 100 black females within the population. 2003 census data shows there are 91 Black males for every 100 females.

Black male incarceration and higher mortality rates are often pointed to for these imbalanced sex ratios. Although black males make up 6% of the population, they make up 50% of those who are incarcerated.This incarceration rate for black males increased by a rate of more than four between the years of 1980 and 2003. The incarceration rate for African American males is 3,045 out of 100,000 compared to 465 per 100,000 White American males.The chance that black males will be arrested and jailed at least once in their lifetime in many areas around the country is extremely high. For Washington, D.C., this probability is between 80 and 90%.

The mortality rates for African American males are also typically higher than they are for African American females. Between 1980 and 2003, 4,744 to 27,141 more African American males died annually than African American females.This higher incarceration rate and mortality rate helps to explain the low marriage rates for many African American females who cannot find black mate

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Poverty

 Race and poverty in the United States and Racial wage gap in the United States

Black single-parent homes headed by women still demonstrate how relevant the feminization of poverty is. Black women often work in low-paying and female-dominated occupations.[needs update] Black women also make up a large percentage of poverty-afflicted people. Additionally, the racialization of poverty in combination with its feminization creates further hindrances for youth growing up Black, in single-parent homes, and in poverty.For married couple families in 2007, there was a 5.8% poverty rate.This number, however, varied when considering race so that 5.4% of all white people,9.7% of black people, and 14.9% of all Hispanic people lived in poverty.These numbers increased for single-parent homes, with 26.6% of all single-parent families living in poverty, 22.5% of all white single-parent people,44.0% of all single-parent black people, and 33.4% of all single-parent Hispanic people living in poverty.

While majority opinion tends to center on the increase in poverty as a result of single-parent homes, research has shown that this is not always the case. In one study examining the effects of single-parent homes on parental stress and practices, the researchers found that family structure and marital status were not as big a factor as poverty and the experiences the mothers had while growing up.Furthermore, the authors found little parental dysfunction in parenting styles and efficacy for single-mothers, suggesting that two-parent homes are not always the only type of successful family structures. The authors suggest that focus should also be placed on the poverty that African Americans face as a whole, rather than just those who live in single-parent homes and those who are of the typical African American family structure

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Educational performance

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There is consensus in the literature about the negative consequences of growing up in single-parent homes on educational attainment and success. Children growing up in single-parent homes are more likely to not finish school and generally obtain fewer years of schooling than those in two-parent homes.Specifically, boys growing up in homes with only their mothers are more likely to receive poorer grades and display behavioral problems.

For black high school students, the African American family structure also affects their educational goals and expectations. Studies on the topic have indicated that children growing up in single-parent homes face disturbances in young childhood, adolescence and young adulthood as well. Although these effects are sometimes minimal and contradictory, it is generally agreed that the family structure a child grows up in is important for their success in the educational sphere. This is particularly important for African American children who have a 50% chance of being born outside of marriages and growing up in a home with a single-parent.

Some arguments for the reasoning behind this drop in attainment for single-parent homes point to the socioeconomic problems that arise from mother-headed homes. Particularly relevant for families centered on black matriarchy, one theory posits that the reason children of female-headed households do worse in education is because of the economic insecurity that results because of single motherhood.Single parent mothers often have lower incomes and thus may be removed from the home and forced to work more hours, and are sometimes forced to move into poorer neighborhoods with fewer educational resources.

Other theories point to the importance of male role models and fathers in particular, for the development of children emotionally and cognitively, especially boys.[70] Even for fathers who may not be in the home, studies have shown that time spent with fathers has a positive relationship with psychological well-being including less depression and anxiety. Additionally, emotional support from fathers is related to fewer delinquency problems and drug .