Social Class Sends You to Jail?

Social class can determine many different things. The current prison makeup, with over 50% of prisoners being African American doesn't seem to show how only 6% of the population is African American (source). There seems to be a big connection on socioeconomic status (SES) and the criminal justice system. So why is it that people of lower SES tend to go to prison more often?

One reason, and the most well known reasons is due to money. People with more money can pay for the best lawyers that can negotiate the best deals. It also would not be a stretch to say that people with more money live in neighborhoods with people of similar wealth and thus, people in trouble with the law could use connections from their community and neighborhood to get them out of trouble.

The graph above accurately describes the divide of how many black individuals go to prison compared to other races. From the stat mentioned above, black individuals are only 6% of the population and it seems crazy to see that they almost triple the numbers of other races as seen in the graph above.

In your mind, Is social class a means for sending more people to jail?