# Most convicted rapists are white males. Genetic component? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 4, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082 "2013-01-04T17:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/61 "2014-01-03T21:43:05Z")
This has probably already been said, but given the dumbness of the OP I’m just going to go ahead and say it: you need to take a beginner’s course in statistics. If, according to OP, 23% of people convicted of rape are black that would mean blacks are roughly twice as likely to rape as whites, because they make up only about 12% of the population. Whites (depending on how you count Hispanics) make up around 80% of the population. Which means, again according to the OP, whites are less likely (not more likely) to rape than the general population. In other words, your numbers prove the opposite of what you’re saying. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/62 "2014-01-03T21:46:18Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > This has probably already been said, but given the dumbness of the OP I’m just going to go ahead and say it: you need to take a beginner’s course in statistics. > > If, according to OP, 23% of people convicted of rape are black that would mean blacks are roughly twice as likely to rape as whites, because they make up only about 12% of the population. Whites (depending on how you count Hispanics) make up around 80% of the population. Which means, again according to the OP, whites are less likely (not more likely) to rape than the general population. > > In other words, your numbers prove the opposite of what you’re saying. I’m pretty sure the OP has left the building. This is a pretty old thread and it seems he has decided not to grace us with his presence anymore. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/63 "2014-01-04T02:42:27Z")
Yeah, I was just struck with the OP and couldn’t help myself from pointing it out. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/64 "2014-01-04T02:56:58Z")
I was trying to follow Honesty’s claims but unless I’m way off, I’m seeing “rate” used in reference to absolute numbers when I’d expect it to be in reference to per capita, and that makes me dubious. Of course, since he’s gone, it’s academic. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/65 "2014-01-04T15:13:25Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > thanks for posting that. I too missed his departure. I don’t miss his departure. Then again, [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16922926&postcount=357) was his actual departure 3 posts later. Real classy. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/66 "2014-01-04T17:39:33Z")
Some people don’t handle disagreement very well. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/67 "2014-01-04T18:13:52Z")
If there’s an important genetic component does that mean that I as a White Man can get out of jail card for raping (or as the call it in Sweden: surprise sexing) hot chicks? After all if I have no free will how can i be morally or legally culpable? ---
**Author:** ![EricLencher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/51bf81/32.png) [@EricLencher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EricLencher)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/68 "2014-11-13T22:07:44Z")
:(🙂 > [@Honesty](#): > > In the spirit of this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=674550), can anyone provide biological evidence for the observation that white males are more likely to rape and/or sexually assault children and white women? Indeed, according to the [U.S government](http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/SOO.PDF), “imprisoned violent sex offenders were more likely to have been male and white than other violent offenders.” Furthermore, in the category of sexual assault, whites made up nearly 75% of all offenders imprisoned for sexual assault vs. 23% for blacks and 3% for other races. The U.S government also found that 52% vs 44% of sexual offenders were white and black, respectively. > > More striking are the victim statistics: over 75% of sexual assault victims were white women, compared to 20% for black women and 3% for other races. Further, when the government examined the rate in which sexual assault victims are killed, the report concluded that “compared to all murder victims, those who died as a consequence of a sexual assault were substantially more likely to be female and white”. This coupled with the aforementioned paragraph indicate that if a white male is the rapist, the victim is statistically more likely to be white and killed during the crime. > > When the U.S government examined abuse of minors, they found that from nearly 300,000 children abused in 2000 over 60% of those abused children/victims were little white girls and boys. Curiously, black children were _less_ likely to be molested and _most_ likely to report the crime to the authorities than their white counterparts.In 2010, the [Justice Department](http://www.justice.gov/psc/docs/natstrategyreport.pdf) reported a disturbing trend where “American child sex tourists typically are Caucasian males aged 40 or older. Such predators may be either situational or preferential child sex tourists. . . Some organizations estimate that U.S. citizens account for 25 percent of child sex tourists worldwide, and as high as 80 percent in Latin America.” > > In [this](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006322311006354) peer-reviewed paper, Pinessi et al. found that R177H mutation in the _PGRN_ gene is correlated with “abnormal sexual behavior”. Since _PGRN_ is expressed in neurons, this data point may represent a “genes-to-behavior” in white males. [In another study](http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/pubmed/17634757), Blanchard et al. found that low IQ and left-handedness is correlated with paedophilia. Finally, Sartorious et al. reported that activation of the the region of the brain responsible for fear is reversed in patients with paedophilia. The persistence of paedophilia and sexual abuse of children/women to middle-aged by white males suggests there are neural and genetic that correlates with these abnormal, illegal behaviors. > > Topic for Debate: Could the putative persistence of paedophilia and sexual assault in white males compared to other SIRE\* groups be explained by genes? Could genetic screening for PGRN be used as an indicator to predict the development of deviant sexual behavior? What about left-handedness and low IQ? Also, could there be a genetic component as to why black children are less likely to be molested and more likely to report the crime to their parents? Discuss. > > - Honesty Thanks for your question, Honesty. I notice that you don’t understand how to break down statistics, so I will help you. Notice that your statistics do not account for Hispanic males. That is because in the United States, whenever a Hispanic male commits a crime, he is lumped in with white offenders in order to inflate white crime statistics. According to your own statistics, blacks commit 23% of the rapes and sex offense in the United States. You should also be aware that blacks only comprise 12% of the US population. This would make blacks TWICE as likely as a whites and Hispanics combined, to be a sex offender. The FBI has been counting crimes committed against Hispanics separately from whites, but crimes committed BY Hispanics as being committed by whites. This artificially inflates the white offender category, and makes crime appear more balanced. This is to appease the liberals. Now since whites are a minority in some states, such as California, now they are going to start keeping separate categories for Hispanic, White, and Black offenders stating at the end of 2014. Your question as to whether there is a genetic component to criminal behavior, the answer is 100% yes. The higher the mean IQ for a group is, the lower the propensity for criminal behavior. Let’s take the Stanford Study on murderers. Regardless of race, a study of 600 inmates doing time for murder revealed that 90% of them had an IQ between 80 and 90. This is a range that psychologists felt that people were able to grasp the difference between right and wrong, but reacted emotionally and were unable to control themselves. The mean IQ for blacks is 86, which puts a higher percentage of blacks into this category. Whites have a mean IQ of 101, so there are fewer whites who commit these crimes. Asians have an even higher mean IQ at 106, and thus have the lowest crime rates of any race. Now you can have an Asian with an IQ of 85, and a black person with an IQ of 106, and the Asian would be more likely to commit crime in this scenario. Because the correlation is with intelligence, not with an individual’s skin color. Thanks. -Eric - 😉 ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/69 "2014-11-13T22:10:28Z")
You’ll be waiting an awful long time for a response to the OP, since Honesty was banned from the board. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/70 "2014-11-13T23:08:14Z")
> [@EricLencher](#): > > Thanks for your question, Honesty. I notice that you don’t understand how to break down statistics, so I will help you. Notice that your statistics do not account for Hispanic males. That is because in the United States, whenever a Hispanic male commits a crime, he is lumped in with white offenders in order to inflate white crime statistics. Piffle. Please provide an actual source for this claim. This is the sort of thing that should be easy to demonstrate if it is true, yet I have not encountered it in decades of watching this sort of discussion. As to any discussion relying on “IQ” measurements, even if IQ measured anything more than the ability to take an IQ test, they are so often massaged (by both sides of the debate) as to be meaningless. Why you had to drag up an ancient thread by a banned poster with no activity in more than ten months to make those dubious points, I am not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/71 "2014-11-14T15:05:00Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Please provide an actual source for this claim. > > This is the sort of thing that should be easy to demonstrate if it is true, yet I have not encountered it in decades of watching this sort of discussion. It depends on what you mean by “this claim”. I will assume you mean the claim that whites and Hispanics are lumped together. In the FBI statistics, [they are](http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/43tabledatadecoverviewpdf). I don’t know why I bother, since you will simply claim you were saying something else, but… > [@](#): > > As to any discussion relying on “IQ” measurements, even if IQ measured anything more than the ability to take an IQ test, they are so often massaged (by both sides of the debate) as to be meaningless. Do you have a cite for this, or are we just giving unsubstantiated opinions? If the latter, no, you are wrong. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/72 "2014-11-14T16:41:11Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Do you have a cite for this, or are we just giving unsubstantiated opinions? If the latter, no, you are wrong. > > Regards, > Shodan What’s your opinion? Do you believe that black people, on average, are inherently inferior in genetic potential for intelligence as compared to white people? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/73 "2014-11-15T00:59:36Z")
> [@David\_Sims](#): > > … > If we took that at face value, it would mean that black men are about three times more likely than white men to rape some woman or other. However, the FBI (and the Department of Justice generally) lumps Hispanic males into the “White male” offender group. Most (over 90%) of the Hispanics in the United States are mestizos; they are not whites. > > Experience with jurisdictions in which mestizo crime has been tracked separately from white crime provides a rule of thumb to apply… > [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Well, this points out a huge problem with the above: > > “White” is a social term. It has meaning only as a social description. But there’s not a lot of genetic consistency within that group. Irish, Sicilians, and Poles are all “White”, but they’re not very much alike. Are there any crime statistics that break down different kinds of “white” people? It would be interesting to know if e.g. anyone has observed that Sorbians rape more often than Gotlanders who rape more often than Walloons who rape more often than Cornish people who rape more often than Shetland Islanders who rape more often than Flemings who rape more often than White Russians who rape more often than Basques who rape more often than Hungarians who rape more often than Scottish Highlanders who rape more often than Swedish-speaking Finns who rape more often than Tuscans who rape more often than Leonese. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/74 "2014-11-15T02:24:58Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It depends on what you mean by “this claim”. I will assume you mean the claim that whites and Hispanics are lumped together. In the FBI statistics, [they are](http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/43tabledatadecoverviewpdf). I mean the claim that they are lumped only as perpetrators and never as victims. > [@Shodan](#): > > Do you have a cite for this, or are we just giving unsubstantiated opinions? If the latter, no, you are wrong. As to IQ games, they are not relevant to this thread and if anyone wishes to pretend that they have meaning, they can open up a new thread to discuss them. It was good of you, however, to admit that yours was an unsubstantiated opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/75 "2014-11-15T14:07:12Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I mean the claim that they are lumped only as perpetrators and never as victims. No one made that claim. You wanted a cite that Hispanics and whites are lumped together as “offenders”, and now you have one. As expected, you are now attempting to claim you were asking for something else. > [@](#): > > As to IQ games, they are not relevant to this thread and if anyone wishes to pretend that they have meaning, they can open up a new thread to discuss them. Was this aimed at me, or **iiandyii**? If at me, I was responding to you. If you wish to rule out discussions of IQ, you should have done so instead of trying to engage in one. > [@](#): > > It was good of you, however, to admit that yours was an unsubstantiated opinion. No more than yours. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ajb867](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@ajb867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ajb867)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/76 "2014-11-15T14:24:12Z")
My job lumps hispanics with whites as both perprators and victims of crime. There is literally no choice for “hispanics”. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/77 "2014-11-15T23:22:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > > [@tomndebb](#): > > > > I mean the claim that they are lumped only as perpetrators and never as victims. > > No one made that claim. Except, of course, the poster I challenged to defend it: > [@EricLencher](#): > > The FBI has been counting crimes committed against Hispanics separately from whites, but crimes committed BY Hispanics as being committed by whites. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/78 "2014-11-16T14:29:21Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Except, of course, the poster I challenged to defend it: OK, my bad then. If you were to read the cite provided, you will note that white and Hispanic have been, in fact, lumped together under victims of homicide. [Cit](http://www.examiner.com/article/crime-statistics-distorted-by-race-for-last-20-years)e. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/79 "2014-11-16T17:58:53Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Are there any crime statistics that break down different kinds of “white” people? It would be interesting to know if e.g. anyone has observed that Sorbians rape more often than Gotlanders… who rape more often than Leonese. Are you looking for stats for a single location, or cross-location works? Because if the second, comparing rape rates for different locations would be a starting point. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082/80 "2014-11-17T15:30:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Are you looking for stats for a single location, or cross-location works? Because if the second, comparing rape rates for different locations would be a starting point. Region might be a good starting point as a proxy. One problem with trying to break down crime statistics by ethnicity is that you can’t really get finer than the data that is tracked. You could say that hey, this guy named John McDonald was convicted of rape and the conviction record says he’s white, but is he, like, Irish or Scottish? Most “Mc” names can be either. Well, maybe this census data says that in this tri-city area, Scottish people outnumber Irish 3-1. So let’s attach a probability factor and get on to the next case. But wait, maybe he was adopted and is genetically more French Canadian. So do we track by DNA or culture? Maybe both are important! Maybe, growing up in a Scottish family tends to impart Scottish attitudes about morality and when and if it’s acceptable to commit rape regardless of your DNA. Or what about people of multiple ancestry? Maybe you find a convicted rapist named Herman Schneider. You do a background check on him and find out that he was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, so you make an ass out of you and me and put him down as Pennsylvania Dutch. But maybe in reality his father was an international student from Vienna who was studying at Penn State and his mother was a Native Hawaiian also studying there. Next case, Marcos Santos. Well, last name Santos, so is he Hispanic? Or maybe Italian? or Portuguese? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-convicted-rapists-are-white-males-genetic-component/646082.md?page=5)