Race and crime

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Incarceration rates per 100,000 in the United States. Source: [1], Table 3
Enlarge
Incarceration rates per 100,000 in the United States. Source: [1], Table 3
As of 2001, the chances of going to prison in percentages for various demographic groups
Enlarge
As of 2001, the chances of going to prison in percentages for various demographic groups

An observed correlation between race and crime has been noted in a number of countries. This has prompted controversy regarding the possible causes and social effects, and regarding which actions should consequently be taken.

Contents

[edit] Statistics

[edit] United States

Please help improve this article by expanding this section.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.

In the United States, blacks are more likely than whites to be convicted of violent crime who are in turn more likely to be convicted of violent crime than Asians are. Statistics have also shown that in the United States, a black person is more likely to be arrested for a particular crime than a white person is for the exact same crime.

Statistics show [2] that blacks are more likely to be involved in crime overall. Image:Homicide victimization by race.gif Image:Homicide offending by race.gif

[edit] Europe

Muslims of mostly Moroccan origin constitute the overwhelming majority of prisoners in France, home to Europe's largest Muslim population, with recent estimates of 70% for the Muslim prison population. It is difficult to come to a precise number, as ethnicity-based censuses are banned in France; Iranian-French sociologist Farhad Khosrokhavar has made estimations using complexion, names, and religious traditions like prohibition of pork.[citation needed]

Britain has a prison population of just over 80,000, 8% of which are Muslim. In Britain blacks are responsible for 26% of the robberies, 10% of the sexual offences and 14% of the drug offences despite the fact they make up only 2% of the population in the UK. (Source: Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System.) Sixty-three percent of mugging victims in London reported that their attackers were black. [3]. In Britain, "almost twice as many black people are in prison as at university, according to a report by the Commission for Racial Equality." [4]

[edit] Other countries

Nations originally established as 'New World' colonies seem to share a common thread - that aboriginal and indigenous peoples have among the highest incarceration rates of their countries' prison populations. And as is the case with African American prisoners, the reasons for such figures continue to be hotly debated.

In Australia, Aborigines have the single highest imprisonment rate of any ethnicity, and make up more than a fifth (20%) of the prison population. [5]  Per 100,000 people, that equates to about 1200-1400 prisoners.

First Nations make up about 2% of Canada's population, but account for 18% of the federal prison population as of 2000. [6]

In New Zealand, 50% of the approximately 6,000 inmates identify as Maori, and Pacific Islanders about 12%, most of them classified as low or medium security inmates. [7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Source: Harrison, Paige M. & Allen J. Beck, PhD, US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2004 (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, Oct. 2005), Table 12, p. 9.

[edit] External links

Source: US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, Census 2000 Redistricting Data (P.L. 94-171) Summary File for states, Population by Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United States: 2000 (PHC-T-a) Table 1, from the web at http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t1/tab01.txt , last accessed September 8, 2001.


Human race and sex group differences
Race and intelligence | Sex and intelligence
Race and crime | Sex and crime
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../r/a/c/Race_and_crime.html"