The disparity is so pronounced that if the problem is that private defenders have this kind of impact, the system is still skewed against black and brown people in its application. Whatever the explanation, black and brown people make up more than 80% of the people in our prisons when they commit less than half of the crimes (seeing as whites are 69% of our population). I think affirmative action for prisons would be a great idea. It would certainly force changes in many laws, especially drug laws, if the police raided white people's houses with the same frequency that they raid black people's homes. It is a bit difficult to believe that the racial disparities in the criminal justice system are so pronounced, and yet people will actually try to justify it.
White males are more likely to take risks in starting businesses, therefore are most likely to be in a position to hire others. It's not discrimination that got them to that point, its having balls and sacraficing that put them in that position. Instead of forcing these risk takers to hire for the sake of "diversity," more emphasis should be placed on minorities to "become a boss" through their own efforts rather than at the mercy of others. To put it simply, if you can't join em, beat them.
I will readily admit that reading stats is not my bag, but how do you tally a crime and credit it to a race when there is no arrest made?
andymoon, I think I know by now how to interpret statistics and tables and graphs. I do know that I interpret by what is on the paper, not by feelings, opinions, and conjectures. If you would quit looking at it with your heart and use your head, you will see that by the stats that I PROVIDED that the only thing that blacks do EIGHT more times than whites is get arrested for robbery and that is it. I guess I am not that great of a googler to find what you are looking for in convictions, but I can only defend the data that I presented and discussed in this thread, not links that were not scrutinized in detail.
It is difficult, but when that data is included in your study, you can make estimates. The point is that the numbers that have been provided here are incomplete and cannot be used to even begin to estimate the number of crimes committed, though they do shed a lot of light on the racism still highly prevalent in the criminal justice system. In the stats I provided earlier in this thread, the researchers did include estimates of crimes committed (though I admit that the study in question was focused on drug use as opposed to overall crime). The elevated numbers in the arrest and conviction rate show a clear bias in enforcement, but do not speak to crimes committed and as such, cannot be used to draw a conclusion there.
I call bull**** on that one. If you say you cannot even say how many crimes were committed, how do you get to your conclusion of racial bias? If you don't know how many crimes were committed, how can you be so sure that the number of arrests is not proportional to the number of crimes committed? You just believe what you want to believe. My guess would be that the main reason for the higher amount of arrests is that they commit more crimes - and perhaps to a certain extent racial bias is also responsible. Obviously, the underlying reasons why they commit more crimes are more complex (poverty, this again could partially be caused by racial discrimination in the past, etc.).
In a longer perspective this also gives blacks a feeling of alienation from society. It breaks down there respect for laws and society as a whole. This leads to even more black criminals and even more convictions and more prejudging. Affirmative action is not something that I want in itself, but to change the way things are and get to where we want to be I think Affirmative action is necessary.
Because the races commit crimes at roughly the same rate according to every sociology class I have ever taken. In addition, if the study in question is trying to take into account the number of crimes committed, they can make estimates based on police reports of the crimes and other relevant data. The fact that this information has been left out is important as it shows that the people collecting the statistics just didn't care. I am sure that the number of crimes and the number of arrests are mathematically related, but it is not a 1 to 1 ratio. Besides, I would know the number of crimes committed if that data had been included in the sets provided. No, because I open my mind and study rather than burying my head, covering my ears, and yelling "nyah, nyah, I'm not listening, I'm not listening" to keep facts from seeping in. A case could be made for blacks committing different types of crimes than whites, but the rates are very close. I am glad that you can admit that there is racial bias present and I am sure you would agree that this bias should be terminated with prejudice.
so the past when black men started their own business and had the burned down when they took money from white businesses under the guise of the blatant racism of the time. . . well . . .that has nothing to do with anything but u know what . . if this explaination makes you feel better go with it. . . . but the reality is historical . . . a black risk taker ended up with a bullet in his head and his property confiscated hard image to just GET OVER Rocket River
I think affirmative action could prove to skeptics that a person can be a good coworker regardless of color. That´s how affirmative action can bring something good and make itself obsolete if successful.
Its a good thing Robert Johnson doesn't have your loser mentality. He would be sitting behind a keyboard crying the blues rather then getting off his butt and putting his skills to work. And are you trying to conclude based upon that statement "all the whiteys" nowadays have their "guns aloaded" waiting to shoot up a black business owner? Play up the victim role all you want, who does it hurt in the end if you do nothing with your life other than cry about what happen decades ago?
If you took RocketRiver's posts at face value, you would have to conclude that he spends each and every evening in a mighty struggle to turn back the hoards of Klansmen who attempt to torch his house on a daily basis.
Amen to that. But, as we've discussed ad nauseum, racism isn't something that happened only in history books. It's still rampant today, and it still affects how people get jobs, buy houses, go to college, etc. We all like to think racism isn't an issue today, but that's naive. And, until racism *is* a thing of the past, we need to sac up and make things as level as possible.
For every Robert Johnson . . . . how many more 'risk takers' were not so fortunate? You can say what happen in the past all your want. . . . it does not make it true Rocket River
No but they [and the Native Americans] are the ones that this country went above and beyond and out of its way to try and destroy. You and Jorje want to act like Slavery, Jim Crowe, etc NEVER HAPPENED Easy to tell a Rape victim to get over it until you are that victim. Rocket River Different strokes fro different folx
When you both finally grow up, you will realize one day the only person that ever held you back was yourself.
