With African Americans accounting for nearly half of Florida's prison population, the state Senate has launched a partnership with university researchers to delve more deeply into how criminal justice legislation could disproportionately affect communities of color.

Legislative bills are routinely analyzed for their impact on the state budget and the environment but rarely are they vetted on how they could impact specific slices of the state's demographics.

African Americans account for nearly half of the 96,000 people locked up in Florida prisons, according to the Department of Corrections, with many thousands more held in local jails, while making up just 17% of the state's 21.3 million residents.