Shocking black imprisionment statistics

A few facts I just came across while perusing Alternet.org:

The Bureau of Justice Statistics, 12 percent of all African American men between the ages of 20 and 34 are in prison, versus1.6 percent of white men

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that nationally 12 percent of all African American men between the ages of 20 and 34 are in prison.

Guess how many white men between the ages of 20 and 34 are in prision?

1.6 percent.

Over 50% are in prision for non-violent crime (read that as drug offenses).

The Justice Policy Institute reports that in Texas blacks are incarcerated at a rate 63% higher than.... guess... not whites...the national average for blacks. That's right, Texas puts away more blacks than any other state in this country.

I found some of these statistics shocking. I really had no idea how lopsided some of the incarceration statistics were in regard to blacks. I mean, sure, I accepted the normal sterotype that there are more blacks in jail than whites, but I had no idea it was this bad.


The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimated that while 12 percent of drug users are black, they make up nearly 50 percent of all drug possession arrests in the U.S. Makes sense. I mean, how many times do you remember cops nailing that one kid who had the rich parents but still for some reason sold pot to everyone? Or the group of suburb kids who would get XTC from somone's older brother in college and then sell them to the other students? Man, the day those kids are nailed at the rate inner city students are nailed is the day people really start to pay attention. Everyone forgets those oh so touching "Teen drug related death shocks Atlanta suburb" stories, and ignorant suburb parents continue to assume their kids "would never do drugs."


The question is, how do you fix this?

I can only think of three things. Better education, better jobs, and free birth control. And what I mean is that it's the responsibility of those outside of these statistics to assist in bringing about the better education, better jobs, and free birth control.

Bush wants a "culture of life." I say start with the people already alive and living with us.

Flame on.

-O

[edit on 17-6-2005 by The Big O]

[edit on 17-6-2005 by The Big O]

[edit on 18-6-2005 by The Big O]

YOu do realise that the genetic structure is responcible for this case.Afrcians have pumped up genes,they are more fast.agile,have bigger D*** and are more aggresive.BLame it on genes.There was a show in discovery channel about this.

Originally posted by warthog911
YOu do realise that the genetic structure is responcible for this case.Afrcians have pumped up genes,they are more fast.agile,have bigger D*** and are more aggresive.BLame it on genes.There was a show in discovery channel about this.

The Discovery channel said black men have bigger d****?
Or did they said say there were some genetic differences such as increased testosterone levels?

[edit on 17-6-2005 by AceOfBase]

Face it there are more blacks in prison because they are a stereotyped target for the larger problem of organized crime and the drug cartels. When you trace the ownership of private prisons, you lead back to drug cartels. They get you coming and going. So why blacks? They are an easy mark for conviction, which is the brown nose point of the system, a kind of body count or quota system. They do not for the most part have lawyers anything near to what Michael Jackson or OJ Simpson had. Usually their public defender may as well work for the prosecutor's office. So think about it, even when a black person is innocent totally, he gets the frame job. Ask pertinent questions, such as how many people in prison are innocent of charges. Remember the State of Ohio? More than one third of the death row convictions were reversable through DNA testing. Think about it, because our judicial system is in deep trouble morally, and scientifically. Sadly it is a wellspring of incompetence and conduct that should be prosecuted, if there were any fair minded people within this iron curtain of hypocrisy.

[edit on 17-6-2005 by SkipShipman]

SkipShipman, you jogged my memory of something.

God, I wish I remembered the article where I read this... but in Texas, there is this public defender who keeps getting asigned to death penalty cases.

At any rate, he's fallen asleep during several of these death penalty trials. Yet, he keeps getting asigned to them. Talk about stacking the deck against someone.

-O

Ok what's so shocking about this? If one race commits more crimes that the other then there will be a higher percentage of that race in prison, what's so hard to understand about this?
Why does everything have to be in black and white?.
Pardon the bad analogy but this is like getting angry because sharks are more violent than tuna fish.

Nice use of logic there WestPoint.

More blacks are in prison than whites...People go to prison for commiting crimes...Therefore, black people must commit more crimes than white people. Simple answer.

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Ok what's so shocking about this? If one race commits more crimes that the other then there will be a higher percentage of that race in prison, what's so hard to understand about this?
Why does everything have to be in black and white?.
Pardon the bad analogy but this is like getting angry because sharks are more violent than tuna fish.

So it wouldn't have anything to do with Texas being a racist religous extremist state then?

The amount of strange guff you here about this state it is hard to not draw this conclusion.

I don't care if you're Black, white, yellow, brown or any combination thereof. People make thier OWN mistakes, people choose to do whatever they want. If they get a harsh punishment, oh well....should'nt have sold that crack. If they get off easy....lucky for them, maybe they'll get hammered next time.

Im tired of people saying we should go easier on blacks in the judicial system. That's taking the easy way out. How about we go harder on everybody, including whites. People will eventually get the point and think twice before doing whatever and crime WILL eventually go down. May take awhile, but it will.

YOu do realise that the genetic structure is responcible for this case.Afrcians have pumped up genes,they are more fast.agile,have bigger D*** and are more aggresive.BLame it on genes.There was a show in discovery channel about this.

Blame it on genes, that's taken the easy way out too. Genes don't make people shoot up, genes don't pull trigger, genes don't say "hey, let's go rob a bank" That applies to all races.

Originally posted by SportyMB

YOu do realise that the genetic structure is responcible for this case.Afrcians have pumped up genes,they are more fast.agile,have bigger D*** and are more aggresive.BLame it on genes.There was a show in discovery channel about this.

Blame it on genes, that's taken the easy way out too. Genes don't make people shoot up, genes don't pull trigger, genes don't say "hey, let's go rob a bank" That applies to all races.

Genes are responsible for grwoth,fat,attitiude and everything.Africans have aggresive genes.Google about genes and then you would know.

I didnt say it doesnt make them more agressive.

I said genes do not make up a persons mind and make people do things Like drugs, killing, larceny, adultry, Watch TV, go golfing, order pizza, etc...etc...

Genes almost completely determine your behavior. Otherwise, what would prevent a squirrel from having a mandible capable of talking, cursing, and robbing our banks?

Originally posted by warthog911
Google about genes and then you would know.

It must be true then.

Originally posted by RedDragon
Genes almost completely determine your behavior.

I would have to say that I disagree with this statement (where's your evidence, I hear you cry). I would expect that, like most things in life, one's behaviour is determined by a mix of genetic influence and environmental pressure.

The point seems to have been missed. Blacks don't commit more crimes than whites, statistically they commit far fewer. The point is, they get locked up more often.

Penis size has little, if anything to do with testosterone in my experience. Rather, it's a direct glimpse into evolution, expressed more acutely in Africans because they've been around longer. The longer the penis, the more likely that sperm will be deposited in the appropriate place, and a slightly higher chance of fertilization. Evolution in action.

In any case, people need to refresh their minds when it comes to the prison epidemic in this country. We lock up more people than any other nation on the planet, something like 2.5 million and counting at this point, and that doesn't even count people on parole and probation.

So once again, for those not paying attention, blacks don't commit more crimes, but they do go to prison more often when they do commit crimes.

Draw your own conclusions, but get the facts straight before you do.

Originally posted by The Big O
The question is, how do you fix this?

Personal responsibility.

The 'fix' has been provided. It just hasn't been accepted.
All the answers are there for them, but it's up to them to
start using them.

In Baltimore recently the black parents kicked the well
educated white teacher out of the school simply because
he was white. Actually, he never even got the chance to
start teaching because the parents had a hissy-fit before
he even got into the classroom. They wanted BLACK teachers
to teach their black kids. Hello?? They were damn lucky to get
anyone to go into those schools let alone someone as well educated
as this teacher. But noooooooooooo .. he has to be black
according to them.

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
Blacks don't commit more crimes than whites, statistically they commit far fewer. The point is, they get locked up more often.

Got something to back this claim up with? Blacks commit less crimes
but go to prison more often??? So white people get off more??
I'm not buying it without some very good sources of info to back
that up.

O.J. and Michael Jackson must just be a fluke of the system, eh??

You do the crime, you do the time.

i live in the uk and worked a contract for the government and did some analysis around the correlation between crime, unemployment, poor education, poor health, wealth and so on

the biggest correlation was social deprivation i.e. poor people with poor educations were more likely to be ill, be obese, smoke, have underage pregnancies, take drugs and get involved in crime

in the UK some of the most deprived areas have high ethnic minority populations which leads to statistics like the ones your talking about (im not sure if thats the same as in the US but i think the principle is probably the same?)

anyway, the true indicator of criminal activity is social deprivation (not ethnicity, although looking at the Texas stats that comes into effect in terms of convicting people)

Flyers Fan
Yes, OJ and Michael Jackson were flukes. They were both wealthy, and were able to afford high powered defense attorneys. That gives them a fairly obvious advantage, I'm pretty amazed you didn't think of that before bringing up the point.

As to your desire for statistics, white are arrested on average 3 times more often than blacks, but blacks are much more likely to be sent to prison for the same crimes.

www.hrw.org...

That's a serious discrepancy.

And what the hell did your earlier point have to do with the topic? Personal responsibility is great, no doubt about it, but what does a teacher getting moved have to do with blacks making up a disproportionate segment of the inmate population? I think you're trying to say something like "look, they're stupid people, see!" That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Care to explain your position more in depth?

birddawg
The point is, blacks do more time for the same crime. Is that justice?

Well, it's not just a case of "violent genes"; however, there is a statistically significant difference in testosterone levels in people based on their race, with Asians having the least, Blacks the most, and Whites somewhere in the middle. And I think most researchers consider there to be a very strong correlation between male testosterone levels and aggressive behavior.

And, even if you correct for absolute numbers and things like economic status, there is a measurable correlation between incarceration and race. In other words, the percentage of middle-class American Blacks in jail is somewhat higher that than of American Whites, which is somewhat higher than that of American Asians.

Of course, the correlation between race and incarceration, as everyone here is pointing out, is much higher over the general population, i.e., not taking education or economic standing, etc. into account. This suggests that education and economic standing play an important role in violence (and thus incarceration) -- but testosterone does, too!

Now is that correlation proof of anything? Of course not; it's a correlation, so all it can be considered is a level of evidence. Asians, for example, might have a lower rate of incarceration due to cultural rather than genetic considerations -- shame versus guilt, filial respect, losing "face", etc.

Unfortunately, most people, especially today, are terrified of even discussing such things for fear of being branded "racist"; that pathetic social Luddism extends to universities where such detailed studis and statistical analyses might have occured.