Why do people assume black people are violent and commit the most crimes?

Question

When the fact clearly shows that blacks are trailing in second place?

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/cpracetab.htm

Why can't we all learn to love ALL RACES!!!

Why would someone lie about something when the statistics clearly show otherwise?

I believe we are all equal and god loves us all equally!

Answer 1

agreed.

Answer 2

Yes,god loves us all the same,we are all the same!

For your question: Rap music,its very violent and its prodominently black

Answer 3

I completely agree with you there. No other words to say here.

Answer 4

I agree with you

Answer 5

I hate to admit it, but Alwayson is partially correct...HOWEVER, the fact that his answer is incomplete shows that the way we look at this situation is extremely skewed...I'll explain:

If you look at your numbers, 332,270,800 whites, 20,699,300 blacks, and 740,600 others have been jailed out of a total of 54,710,700 jailed persons.  (This is if my math is correct...first three numbers were done on paper, all the rest will be done in excel, which I didn't think of at first).

This means that whites make up about 60.8% of those jailed between '89 and '97, blacks make up about 37.8%, and all others make up a little more than 1.3% of those jailed.  If you look at recent census data (I realize this skews the numbers since we're talking about 10+ years ago), the non-Hispanic white population of the US is about 68%, while blacks make up roughly 12.4% of the country.

Now, since the link you provided doesn't specify whether "white" is all whites or just whites or non-Hispanic whites, we really can't continue with the numbers.  But the fact that blacks make up 35% of those jailed, while only being 12.4% of the population, means that we are overrepresented in the "justice" system.

This is why people stereotype black people as being more likely to commit crime.  The problem comes with the heading of the link you provided.  This graph shows the "Number of adults in prison or jail, or on probation or parole".  It doesn't show the number of people tried, the number of people arrested, or the number of house calls made by the police that did not result in an arrest or a trial.

The justice system here is clearly racist, as such a stark difference in proportion cannot be accounted for biologically - there is no proof that black people are more likely to commit crime when all things are equal (if there is no racism, which has been proven to have an effect on socioeconomic status...and we know that poverty engenders a higher rate of crime).  We can't look at these numbers simply, nor can we determine everything we want to know from them, but at the end of the day, they do show some racial bias in the justice system, and this is not anything new at all (go back to lynchings and see how many innocent people were "convicted" and put to death just because they were black...look at LA, where there is a LOOOOONG history of police violence and racial discrimination against blacks).

So yes "alwayson", you are right, that it's the proportions that make the distinction, but these proportions themselves demand further explanation.  Black people are more likely than whites to be jailed or placed on parole for the same exact crime.  Hence, while whites make up 60.8% of the crime and 68% of the population, and African Americans are 35% and 12.4%, something is clearly amiss, and we know why.  

It's unfortunate, and your sentiment is entirely correct.  I agree with you, but it's a tough situation America has dug itself into (and seemingly has no desire to correct, especially given Alwayson's simplistic answer).  While race has proven to be a large factor in the jail and "justice" systems, we do also have issues with glass ceilings and many the other affects that our "isms" (racism, sexism, classism, ageism, etc.) produce.  We've gotten better at this, and closer to equality, but we are still quite a long way from living up to the ideals implicitly stated on the Declaration of Independence.

Answer 6

Every time I watch tv it shows that the person or persons who robbed a local store are black. Can't deny that.

Answer 7

i totally agree with you!

Answer 8

They lie because of their own insecurities, I do love all races.

Answer 9

I totally agree with you. People do this because back when slavery was legal, white people always made stereotypes about blacks being violent and dangerous creatures, which we all know is completely not true. People do this because they have insecurities in themselves, and because of that, they try to make other people of other races look bad to make themselves look Good. I personally love all humans, whether you're white, black, pink or purple.  

Answer 10

When you say "people", who are you talking about?????

Answer 11

read this

http://doubleo10.tripod.com

Answer 12

So you're saying because roughly 1/19 blacks commits crimes vs 1/73 whites, blacks are not more violent? Dude, go back to elementary school mathematics....since your very statistics show that blacks commit almost 4x as many crimes as whites....way to shoot yourself in the *** with your own argument though. I'll give you that.

Answer 13

It is easier to stereotype and judge others based on race that's why they do it. Many racists like to project everything they perceive as wrong unto other races so they can feel better about themselves.

Answer 14

Second place applies only in certain states and possibly in certain areas of certain states.  I think you refer to latinos being first.  However, I think statics will show that latinos might be first in CA, TX, NM and maybe certain large cities, but other than that the African Black Americans out number the latinos held in prisons across the US.

Answer 15

What I don't understand is why we keep crime stats based on race these days anyhow. As if we are still living in the 1940's. I do think that it is an attempt at profiling, and people grow up hearing horrible crime statistics because it's only the bad statistics that are ever reported, so some are programmed from a young age to immediately label people as criminals. It's a vicious cycle.

Answer 16

I agree with you completly  

Answer 17

It has only to do with the ratio of the crime perpetrated within the black race versus their total numbers in existence in the population.It is not an assumption.

Answer 18

Generally I agree with you. Crime is not a skin color or race

issue. But you really need to learn to read statistics. Actually

this chart shows that Blacks are 3-4x as often jailed or on probation

as Whites.

A hint: There're 220M Whites and 40M Blacks in the States.

Combined with that chart it basically means 1 out of 73 Whites

is on that list and 1 in 20 Blacks. And that in fact is quite some

striking difference. The reason however is of course not skin

color.

Edit:

@Matics: I would assume the Whites include Hispanos

as they are (by race) White and the "other" numbers are

too small to include "other" and all Whites with specific

ethnic backgrounds.