Update (9/24): A commenter writes (emphases added):
Critics could quibble with LaShawn’s post in that the FBI stats represent only reported arrests and not actual convictions. Hence it could be argued that she is unfairly singling out blacks for criticism. Nevertheless the high proportion of blacks in prison (people actually convicted) indicates that the arrest figures are a fair (not perfect) indicator of criminal activity…Whatever the true picture, blacks are still way overrepresented, no matter how you slice it.
And:
Critics could of course also argue that the highest rates of crime are committed by low income people, and that since blacks re overepresented among those, naturally they would show up more in the stats. Low income persons do tend to commit more crime, and indeed there is more crime in lower-income neighborhoods. Does this then mean LaShawn is again engaged on an evil mission of dissing “the brothersâ€? Actually she laments the fact of that black overrepresentation, saying: “Let’s look at another sad stat..†and also “.. here’s where people get it twisted. There’s a lot of crime in the U.S. Too much. But let’s look at what’s really bad..†In other words, her concern is with something that is eating away at the soul and literally lifeblood of the black community and diminishing the credibility of that community vis a vis others. If this be an evil mission, one wonders what can be classified as “goodâ€. Remaining silent “with the mike off†for fear of spreading “negative stereotyesâ€? The facts are already on the ground furnishing more than enough ammunition for multiple lifetimes of “negative stereotypesâ€.
It feels so good to be understood.
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Yes, boys and girls, it’s that time again! Time to read the sad crime statistics, collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for our, uh, edification.
In the 2005 Crime in the United States report, we learn that violent crime increased by 2.3 percent from 2004 to 2005.
Dallas is the most dangerous large city.
In my “state” of Washington, D.C., the murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate was 35.4 per 100,000 people last year. Just for fun, I looked up the murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate for Vermont: 1.3 per 100,000.
No comment.
Let’s look at another sad stat. In the Expanded Offense Information section, we find data broken out by age, race, sex, weapons, etc. According to this table, there were 17,029 reported murders. The offender’s race was known in 12,130 of those crimes. Black offenders account for 53 percent; whites 45 percent.
And here’s where people get it twisted. There’s a lot of crime in the U.S. Too much. But let’s look at what’s really bad. Blacks are about 13 percent of the population (non-Hispanic whites are 67 percent), yet they (we!) commit over half the reported murders in the U.S. Since men commit disproportionately more crimes than women, we can surmise that black men, at about 6 percent of the population, commit a hefty portion of those crimes. Whenever you hear people say that blacks commit violent crimes at disproportionate rates, they’re referring to these numbers.
Notice that unlike in the Census report, the white population isn’t broken down by “white” and “non-Hispanic white.” What do you think the crime numbers would look like if the FBI report broke out that data?
For reasons unknown to me, the report contains no data for the race of victims and offenders in forcible rape (I couldn’t find it).
Next time you read about so-called hate crimes, consider this. Overall, whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks. But blacks kill whites at twice the rate that whites kill blacks. Here’s a guide for reading the tables.
What should cause alarm is not that 59 percent of people arrested last year were white. What should cause black communities and so-called black leaders to shout out in anger is that blacks commit over half the violent crimes in this country. Total numbers are not the focus. It’s all about proportions.
Make sure you read about the limitations of the report. There are several factors that go into reporting crimes, and the report doesn’t (and can’t) take into account so-called bias in the criminal justice system, racial profiling, etc.
That concludes our sad stats round-up for today. Number crunchers, we await your assessment of the crime report.
Happy Thursday. 
Related posts:
- “Men in their thirties” Rob Georgetown Jewelry Store
- Salaciousness Sells
- Media and Dog-Bites-Man Crimes
- New Orleans and Jackson, Mississippi, on Lockdown
- Sorry, Whites Not Protected Under ‘Hate’ Crime Law
Other sources:
Federal crime statistics are extracted from local statistics.
Many PC districts do not disclose race to the public, and may make it difficult for the Feds to obtain data about race.
Hence, incomplete information about race.
Comment by Frank Zavisca — 09.21.06 @ 11:39 am
The Sad Results of Being Soft on Crime and Banning Guns. Thuggism Reigns in DC!
La Shawn Barber has the following in a post today.
Crime Time: Annual FBI Thug Report
…
In my “state,†the murder and nonnegligent manslaughter rate was 35.4 per 100,000 people last year. Just for fun, I looked up the murder and nonn…
Trackback by Independent Conservative — 09.21.06 @ 11:49 am
Speaking on behalf of all whites, I wish to apologize. We haven’t been holding up our end of the social contract. Will someone please ask Jesse Jackson to draw up a list of suggestions on how to convince more whites to commit crimes.
Comment by MikeM — 09.21.06 @ 12:46 pm
“take into account so-called bias in the criminal justice system, racial profiling, etc.”
IF the criminal justice system is significantly biased today there should be two effects, the first everyone talks about:
- blacks should be arrested and sentenced more
but since blacks should realize or think that the “biased” criminal justice system will screw them
- blacks, at the criminal margin, should commit fewer crimes since they won’t get off as easily as white boys will (no sign of this in data)
but there are dozens of other factors such as income, 2 parents and even President Bush’s domestic budget.
Comment by UNK — 09.21.06 @ 1:27 pm
It would be interesting to see a breakdown by the race of the victims. I suspect blacks are disproportionately represented there, too.
Comment by RFG — 09.21.06 @ 1:54 pm
Most definitely!
Comment by La Shawn — 09.21.06 @ 1:55 pm
The school drop out rate of black males is a national tragedy. Young black males with no marketable skills, little enthusiasm for self-improvement, few neighborhood role models for parenting or a work ethic leads most of these kids to the mean streets and growing trouble.
The government is nearly helpless in all of this. No amount of tax money can replace the one on one love and guidance of an appropriate family.
My early life was spent in an orphanage which was well run and deeply steeped in Christian love and principles. I am beginning to think that everyone in society may benefit from establishing group homes for these troubled kids.
Bush came into office trying to combine federal funding with the religious groups that have had a strong track record working in areas with serious problems. He was absolutely right. It will take the zeal of the missionary and the fortress of the mission to turn these horrible statistics around.
Personally, I have been a big brother to dozens of boys throughout the years. But when they wander into drugs and crimes, they are lost. If you can keep them alive until their mid thirties, there is a good chance they will figure it all out for themselves. But that is a pitiful formula for a productive life.
Comment by Heliotrope — 09.21.06 @ 5:34 pm
La Shawn,
You were interested in the race of victims. There is a table here that lists the numbers of murder victims by race.
Thanks, Stephen. I already linked to it in a comment post. - Admin
Comment by Stephen McCaskill — 09.22.06 @ 9:56 am
Just a suggestion, but I also missed that “Most Definitely†in #5-6 was a link and not at all clear what “Most Definitely†links to.
Not that it matters, but the numbers were only 7 murders apart by coincidence. 7133 vs 7125 with whites winning (losing) the victim race.
There are plausible arguments that society, with mostly white voters, white money, white government would do more if it were whites being murdered as frequently as blacks. The white robbery victim in Georgetown whose throat was slashed gets the press and causes a Crime Emergency.
There are unplausible conspiracy theories that the man, the KKK actually encourages the murders.
Comment by UNK — 09.22.06 @ 12:45 pm
Blacks make up 65% of the population here in Baltimore. When it comes to murders committed every year, it’s 99.9% black on black. A lot of blacks just want to ignore this statistic, but it can’t be overlooked. From 2000-2006, over 1,500 young black males have been killed on the streets of Baltimore. The Klu Klux Klan wasn’t responsible. Neo Nazi skinheads weren’t responsible. The police weren’t responsible either. I have yet to see a “STOP THE KILLING” rally take place. I’m willing to bet if one of those 1,500 young black men was killed by a white police officer, it would be a different story. The “No Justice No Peace” protest signs would go up instantly. Jesse or Al would be here in two hours trying to profit from the rally. Anybody who would dare speak out against it would be branded a “racist” if he or she was white, and “sellout” if he or she was black. So if 1,500 young black males are killed, is it acceptable because it was committed by other blacks? That seems to be the warped and pathetic sense of logic that is coming out of the black community.
Comment by Tyrone — 09.23.06 @ 11:22 am
Critics could quibble with LaShawn’s post in that the FBI stats represent only reported arrests and not actual convictions. Hence it could be argued that she is unfairly singling out blacks for criticism. Nevertheless the high proportion of blacks in prison (people actually convicted) indicates that the arrest figures are a fair (not perfect) indicator of criminal activity.
As for rape figures, the pattern holds up there as well. Black males commit more forcible rapes as a percentage of the population than other groups. Their choice of victims however seems to be disputed. Far-right websites often refer to the “Wilbanks study” which purports to be based on FBI Crime reports, and show that black rapists are twice as likely to choose white victims than white rapists. Liberal websites like Cornerstone Mag offer a conflicting claim citing a purported National Commission on Crime report that found 90% of the time offender and victim are of the same race. Its all there on Google.
Whatever the true picture, blacks are still way overrepresented, no matter how you slice it.
Comment by Enrique Cardova — 09.23.06 @ 11:45 pm
Critics could of course also argue that the highest rates of crime are committed by low income people, and that since blacks re overepresented among those, naturally they would show up more in the stats. Low income persons do tend to commit more crime, and indeed there is more crime in lower-income neighborhoods. Does this then mean LaShawn is again engaged on an evil mission of dissing “the brothers”? Actually she laments the fact of that black overrepresentation, saying: “Let’s look at another sad stat..” and also “.. here’s where people get it twisted. There’s a lot of crime in the U.S. Too much. But let’s look at what’s really bad..” In other words, her concern is with something that is eating away at the soul and literally lifeblood of the black community and diminishing the credibility of that community vis a vis others. If this be an evil mission, one wonders what can be classified as “good”. Remaining silent “with the mike off” for fear of spreading “negative stereotyes”? The facts are already on the ground furnishing more than enough ammunition for multiple lifetimes of “negative stereotypes”.
Comment by Enrique Cardova — 09.24.06 @ 12:00 am
“I’m willing to bet if one of those 1,500 young black men was killed by a white police officer, it would be a different story. The “No Justice No Peace†protest signs would go up instantly. Jesse or Al would be here in two hours trying to profit from the rally. ”
Or some idiot in Maryland spray paints KKK and n—– on the road and two soda machines – the NAACP steps into action with protests, which made it on the nightly local news, gets congresspeople involved, and gets an FBI agent to investigate.
Of course vandalism is illegal, but priorities people.
Comment by UNK — 09.24.06 @ 1:44 pm
Crime and Race
Can’t think of anything witty to say about it, but LaShawn Barber looks into FBI statistics on crime and race….
Trackback by IMAO — 09.25.06 @ 3:24 pm
Americas crime rate is lower then many other countries especialy ENGLAND where guns are banned and persons can no longer defend themselves from criminals.
Comment by BIRDZILLA — 09.26.06 @ 10:32 am
Actually she laments the fact of that black overrepresentation
Is “laments” the right word or “loathes”?
Comment by Shade — 09.26.06 @ 2:24 pm
Have you concidered the right to defend yourself with a weapon (that’s a gun) and the relationship to the gun laws in Vermont vs Washington DC? Guns don’t show racial bias but local laws do.
Comment by Lee H — 09.27.06 @ 3:57 pm