Why are there more black people in prison than whites?

[Anonymous]

If you don't believe me look up the statistics. Do you feel its because black people truly commit more crimes or that the system is racist?

Black people really do commit more crimes on average

The system is racist.

[VoiceOfReason]

I am inclined to believe you're speaking in terms of percentages and not raw numbers. If you look at individuals there's more Whites in prison than any other ethnic group. Why? Because there's more White people in the country.

Look at the way the system operates. A Black man who commits a crime will get a sentence that is sometimes twice as long as his White counterpart. Blacks even get convicted and serve more time for less serious offenses than their White counterparts.

True Blacks are more economically underprivileged due to a lot of the racial practices that have occurred in this country and continuing practices that continue to limit opportunities for Blacks that are easily afforded to their White counterparts, thus was the reason for the Affirmative Action legislature passed in 1961

Many racist people, like the many people who have posted their ill faded and uninformed opinions based solely on their internal feelings instead of realistic fact. They seek to discredit an entire race not looking at the fact that there are many White people are just as underprivileged as their Black counterparts.

I guess doing drugs, listening to heavy metal music, shooting up schools, flying planes in IRS buildings should be a glorified and celebrated subculture.

I can go on further to say that some White people tend to lead destructive lifestyles and prefer not to take responsibility for their own actions. They feel superior and often feel that even if something isn't theirs, if it is wanted, then it should be taken, like the United States from the American Indians and the diamond mines in South Africa.

While I honestly feel that this is NOT the behavior of MOST White people, there till remains a small group of idiots that actually believe the bull$hit is reflective in some of these posts.

While they cannot and have not produced factual data to prove their claims, I can tell you that injustices still exist in this modern day. Lets talk about the Stand Your Ground law in Florida. Marissa Alexander, a battered wife, fired a warning shot, injuring no one and got 20 years for her infraction. George Zimmermann, on the other hand shot and killed an unarmed teenage boy and it took 44 days before he was arrested, offered bail and is out of jail awaiting trial. Jonathan Nyce beat his wife to death and was only sentenced to seven years for the murder and one year for obstruction of justice and was out in five years. The life taken was a minority. Had his wife killed him, I am certain she would have gotten at least thirty years. Maybe incarceration was what these posts meant by abundance of opportunities and not jobs.

Granted it's now 2013 and not 1945, but to think racism still doesn't exist clearly shows that you are either narrow minded, blind, uneducated, misinformed or a culmination of two or more factors.

Sometimes ignorance just can't be ignored.

[Brando]

While the system doesn't choose who commits crimes and ultimately, gets incarcerated for them, they can decide who actually goes to prison. Past records and circumstances are considered, but I've also read that black people get a little less mercy than white people do.

So on the one hand, yes the statistics are true to an extent. It's not black people as much as it is lower income people which happens to be mostly black in those areas. However on the criminal justice side of things, more could be done to eradicate subtle discrimination and predisposed beliefs.

And before anybody decides to take this the wrong way, this knowledge comes from education, research, and personal conversations with people directly involved in law enforcement and law. Don't challenge with me stupid things like "You're racist for saying black people commit more crimes". That is all.

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

I would say blacks are more likely to commit more crimes - it has a lot to do with the aspects of cultural reality.

Like, blacks were pretty low class citizens for a while in the States - so there's still a mentality of " catch up" going on. A lot of blacks who came from poor families, still live in lower class conditions, making it easier to get out on the streets and commit crimes and what not - for survival typically. Most black inmates have some story of poverty that led them to commit crimes or be involved in gang activity / sell drugs etc etc.

There's a casual attitude that the police are a joke, so that makes doing unlawful things easier.

Black sub culture is bullsh*t and emphasizes the " thug life" and doing drugs / selling drugs / slappin hoes is the golden life - a lot of young black men get absorbed into those ideas because it's one of the only ways they know for lack of a legitiment father figure. Young black women are taught to be objectified - both are told that being aggressive, intimidating, threatening, is always a good thing - on top of negative stereotypes depicted within the sub society.

Black women to Black Male relationships are falling apart faster than they're staying together, so many young black children deal with a missing parent, or being left with a parent who doesn't make for the best role model.

Blacks don't do very well overall in school ( though I think that number is improving slowly,) I think they are second to last ( Latino's being last in education,) compared to all other ethnicities polled collectively in the united states for overall test scores, educational participation etc etc.

There is a lack of strife within the black community for whatever reason.

Lot of black people feel like their oppurtunities are limited due to aspects of racism the whole " white people are holding us down - " mentality - when in reality there are the same exact oppurtunities available. Hell maybe even more seeing how being black grants you several scholarships at universities -not so much if your white.

Black people tend to be self destructive - dividing themselves over tint of skin, male vs female, personal attitudes, odd adherence to materialism, superficial ideology - and finding a scape goat to explain why the culture behaves negatively as it does.

Blame everyone else essentially, or acknowledges the source of the issue but doesn't do anything to fix it?

Eh - there's way more to it than just racist stuff.

It's 2012 not 1945.

That racist excuse is so tired.

[Asker]

Excellent answer. You really hit the nail on the Head.

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

Thanks ^^ I would hope so - these are my people lol :P

[Asker]

I figured you were probably black since you gave such a detailed answer explaining everything.

[Flippydaydream]

agree

[Olivia9]

I'm honestly surprised that you're a black person, I find it hard to believe. To imply that racism doesn't exist in 2012 is such a load and if you were black you would know that. And if you are a black person you pretty much just embodied the "self-destructive" division of black people. Society has contributed to most of the problems in the black community, and essentially caused all of these problems, I'm sure it's just a lot easier to blame the people themselves rather than the actual problems

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

@Olivia - I never said there wasn't racism at all - please read throughly before your critique someone else :)

I said " THERE'S WAY MORE TO IT THAN JUST RACIST STUFF."

Guess you missed that context in your off the mark response.

Anyway - so tell me - what are the problems then? It's just white people controlling us and racism that's why a lot of black kids go to school and do poorly? Or decide - emphasis on DECIDE to run the streets instead of use the oppurtunities we have at hand?

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

You mean to tell me - that I grew up in a very hoodish area, most my family was heavily gang affiliated, that's pretty much what I knew as my reality - that it wasn't my DECISION / CHOICE to get away from that lifestyle?

Get the hell out of here with that sh*t ms. thang.

Of course the blame can't be generalized to all, but there's several factors that are incorporated within our sub society that contribute to negative aspects of our behaviors.

You have to be pretty ignorant to deny that no?

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

Children mimick the parents, we take upon the realities of what we develop around - it's natural developmental behavior - why you see white kids raised in heavily black areas demonstrate more stereotypical black qualities or vice versa. For you to exclude that the people, our environment, our ideals, our culture don't directly influence aspects such as this - is a bold fallacy.

You and I have the same exact oppurtunities as any white person or other American in this country

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

So to say it's racism as the biggest cause or this and that in 2012 is ridiculous. WE'RE FREE - discrimination is really unethical and becoming more and more taboo within American society. So I mean - what's the excuse now? If racism isn't the huge factor in this - why are the statistics still as they are?

Because there's more to it - and the people are a huge part of the issue via cultural aspects as I've stated many times before - and any refutable person could agree here.

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

Plus - I already mentioned aspects of society - overall society and sub black society within our culture which come on now - has a lot of negativity in it. Not saying black culture doesn't have it's positives it has a good amount of them actually - but there's something deeply rooted within the development of black people within our culture that is leading to this horrific statistic. For some reason, these people are choosing the more negative choice instead of positive one - why is that?

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

Even if you try to hide behind the more miniscule racial aspects of society - logically, it's not enough to persuade such a large specific group of people to adhere to more negative behaviors - hence why the culture has such a more profound impact than just society alone. People can think for themselves right? But can be influenced as well - so where do you think this influence stems from? That's right - the community / people, aspects of society, history, and lastly SOME racism.

[Olivia9]

I suggest you take a sociology class and really educate yourself as to why these things are the way they are. Your examples are just tips of the iceberg, if you truly analyzed what you were talking about you would learn a great deal about American culture. Race is not a "minuscule" aspect of our culture. I'm not saying that you are an idiot, but rather you are very uneducated on the subject at hand. And to respond to my comment over 5 times was overkill, you seem like a troll on a mission tbh.

[Freetobe007]

Swwetoness, I gotta agree with Olivia9 on this one. Despite all the talking you did and info you did mention, you do seem to be a bit uneducated. In college, I've learned about systematic racism towards minorities in terms of law and trust me; Race does play a factor.

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

Okay so I'm uninformed about these aspects - what are they exactly? Because I'm black suddenly I'm more likely to be thrown in jail for a crime than a white woman? How so?

Sorry if I came off rash - but it's pretty crazy to still blame racism as the most prominent cause, when it's people who readily make these decisions to break the law or not - and from where I've grown up, I've seen more minorities ignore the consequences of law

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

and break the law anyway - I mean, I can't be thrown in prison if I don't do anything that allows me to be put in there. The inmates in prison of the African American descent have done crimes that reciprocate their incarciration. Even if the system is more biased to whom goes to prison - it is those people who readily make the decision - AA culture does indeed praise aspects of being criminals - selling drugs, stealing, killing are more desensitized it seems

[oOsweet~o~nessOo]

I find it incredible that Olivia said I was blaming the people - when she in turn was blaming only the law in itself. That ignores so many other factors and that's all I was addressing. As I said - it's people whom make those decisions to break the law - and due to history and circumstance, tend to be put in more of a favored situation to do so - so I mean, we can't 100% just blame racism which is what the QA was saying - that's not fully logical

[Olivia9]

I think that the system is racist, I mean one example of this is look at how much a black life costs compared to a white one, it's so obvious no one gives a crap. I think people feel better when there are more black men in jail than in college. It's like a security blanket for white America. Perhaps if education funding wasn't based on income taxes poor people would have a shot at a good life, that and no child left behind which I find really ironic given the title. I just think it's silly that with the evidence people see every day, for example link

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=Q4q7p3ME95E&feature=share

link

or look at the Troy Davis event. To me it's honestly a slap in the face when people actually act as is racism is just a myth, it's insulting to my intelligence.

[kataloso]

Yeah, seeing more black people in jail makes me feel so secure as a white dude. It makes me so happy to know that the taxes taken from my paycheck are being further & further drained to pay for people who do stupid things to sit in jail/prison. Such a neat feeling.

[ronniefalls]

maybe cops are more biased than we think.. I have no idea. this question seems like it may cause a few problems

[aidsleen]

It's the attitude, even many black people here in Australia idolise the whole "thug life" from American culture. (TV & movies)

The show contempt toward police, do drugs, break stuff, graffiti, fight, etc.

i assume it is the same in America

Then you have the poverty aspect, poor immigrants, government housing, low paying jobs.

Crime becomes a problem

On top of this, there is fighting and unease between different races and sub-culture who are crammed into government/low rent housing districts, this causes even more problems

[kheserthorpe]

Blacks commit more crimes per capita then whites, but I'm not sure if that's still true if you look at it by income. I.e poor people commit more crimes then rich ones, and a higher proportion of black Americans are poor.

Beyond that though, there is no question that black incarceration rates are higher then the underlying crime statistics would support.

More young black men in the u.s. are in prison then college.

More black Americans are in prison then were slaves during slavery's peak in the u.s.

[Anonymous]

Some blacks come from neighborhoods that advocate crime more than education, so they may be taking on the identity of their environment instead of the identity of their parents, teachers and role models. Compare it to someone that hangs around drug users all the time, if their not strong minded and motivated enough, they just may start using.

[bellybuttonlint]

I don't think blacks are genetically more inclined to commit crimes. However, even many of my black colleagues will tell you that the culture has put blacks in jail, not the media or whites.

The culture needs to change. I don't believe in "Affirmative action" or "Rooney rule". I mean look at Asian people, their crime rates are the lowest in the country. It is not genetics, but culture. Unless the culture changes you will always see more blacks in jail than any other race.

[Kain6th]

Just look no further than the george zimmerman incident as proof that the system is still racist.

[Anonymous]

The system is racist. Just compare the differences in sentencing (and the race of the perps) between crack and cocaine.

[Love_is_in_the_air]

id say neither, its a coincidence.

[Moloch]

Socioeconomics.