Race and Crime

Essay by ssparks1170College, Undergraduate November 2003

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"The Uniform Crime Report statistics state that blacks are more frequently arrested than whites. While this may mean that blacks actually commit more crime, what are some other factors that may be driving the statistics?"

"If black neighborhoods are under more police surveillance than white neighborhoods, what does this mean for crime statistics?"

"Can you give examples of how blacks receive differential treatment in the criminal justice system?"

What are your thoughts? Remember to back your comments up with supporting evidence.

Maybe the reason blacks are arrested more often is because their neighborhoods are watched more than white neighborhoods, maybe because the police officer on duty doesn't like black people.

Other things that may affect the crime stats are , bad reports, not accurate, reporting only what they want to report to make the county look good or saying there is more crime by blacks for more funding. Also structural differences, non-uniform reporting practices, software coding errors.

The stats would not be accurate at all. You have to look at all kinds of neighborhoods to determine which has more crimes than the others and who is committing those crimes.

How blacks receive differential treatment in the criminal justice system is, that minorities serve longer sentences, have higher arrest and conviction rates, face higher bail amounts, and are more often the victims of police use of deadly force than white citizens.

When it comes to criminals, many people have a preconception of what a criminal is. Usually when people think of a criminal they picture a Black or Latino face. The thought of an Asian criminal is often related to Asian gangs. Interestingly enough, White people as a group are rarely associated with the thought of crime, even though they account for 70% of arrests and 40% of the prison population...