Hopefully you’ll be more precise in your research next time. Especially with delicate matters like these. There’s no prize for the first reply, handy. There really isn’t.
We’ve already mentioned income level as one possible contributing factor in crime. How about another: illegitimacy. I don’t think there’s any “crime gene” that blacks are more prone to, but there is a high illegitimacy rate. I’d be curious to see how those numbers shake out, that is, children growing up in unstable homes, etc. I don’t know whether or not that information even exists, though. . .
Or try the new, controversial report this week in Newsweek. See how abortion caused a drop in the crime rate :eek:
[[That’s about all I can say after getting an email from JillGat, if you catch my drift.]]handy
My email requested that you not post quotes from sources you are not willing to name. - Jill
I would think the difficulty in connecting poverty, abortion, or fatherless homes (which are not always “unstable”) with crime is proving causation as opposed to just association.
Alrightie. These stats actually caught me by surprise:
(Website: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/cprace.txt) as the number of whites in jail is statistically significantly higher.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Number of adults under correctional supervision
White Black Other
1986 2,090,100 1,117,200 32,100
1987 2,192,200 1,231,100 36,300
1988 2,348,600 1,325,700 39,800
1989 2,521,200 1,489,000 45,400
1990 2,665,500 1,632,700 49,800
1991 2,742,400 1,743,300 49,900
1992 2,835,900 1,873,200 53,500
1993 2,872,200 2,011,600 60,200
1994 3,058,000 2,018,000 65,300
1995 3,220,900 2,024,000 90,200
1996 3,294,800 2,083,600 104,500
1997 3,429,000 2,149,900 113,600
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys
(The National Probation Data Survey, National Prisoner Statistics,
Survey of Jails, and The National Parole Data Survey) as presented
in Correctional Populations in the United States, 1997.
To make handy’s numbers meaningful I think we need to do the following.
From the US Census website we find that in 1995 Whites accounted for 83% of the population and blacks accounted for 12.6%.
Handy’s number’s show that our prisons were 60% white and 38% black in 1995. That’s a 6.5 : 1 white to black ratio in the general population but a (roughly) 3 : 2 ratio in the prison population.
In short…blacks are over represented in the prison population as compared to their population in the US as a whole.
yes, Whack thanks - and let’s also keep in mind those in prison/jail = those convicted for crimes does not= those who have committed criminal acts. (remembering both **Biggirls ** link and all of the stuff linked in the other thread about racial profiling etc.)