Political Science

Description

There is a common proposition in the United States, that people in black and brown communities are more likely to commit crimes than any other group, as though these populations were pre-disposed to the commission of criminal activity. Some of these propositions are supported by bigoted and unfounded beliefs, some are supported by research that indicate while African Americans make up approximately 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, and Hispanic persons account for approximately 15 percent of the population, these groups account for a disproportionate number of violent crimes in the country; 5.8 times higher for African Americans and 2.7 times higher for Hispanic persons. (www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv18.pdf (Links to an external site.))
Examining these numbers in a vacuum, it’s very easy to draw conclusions that black and brown people may be more predisposed to committing crimes than other groups. However, as journalist Radley Balko of The Washington Post points out:

“[G]iven that poverty and crime tend to go hand in hand, it’s also possible to make this point without invoking bigoted tropes. [People of Color] commit more crime because they’re more likely to be poor, because of centuries of systematic oppression.” Balko writes further, “Perhaps when it comes to [People of Color], a significant portion of police officers are too quick to assume criminality, and so they look harder to find evidence of crimes. They’re more quick to make an arrest of a [black or brown] person for mouthing off or “resisting.” That creates an arrest record, which then limits the arrestee’s options going forward. And when the doors to earning a legitimate living begin to get closed, people get desperate and turn to illegitimate sources of income.”

In his book The Condemnation of Blackness, historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad argues that the extreme use of “racial data” attempts to create a permanent linkage between blackness and criminality. The myth that [black and brown] people possessed a unique proclivity for violence became the most enduring way of justifying continued discrimination and disparate treatment. However when looking at community and neighborhood statistics that have emerged in the last decade, we find that when holding variables constant for extreme poverty and disadvantaged circumstances, the crime index for “street of neighborhood” crime in urban areas is only marginally different when comparing crime among the three largest racial groups in the country; (White Index – 20, Black Index -22, Hispanic Index -20.5).

While there are statistical anomalies, outliers and variances to account for, overwhelming research continues to endorse the idea that there appears to be an inextricable correlation between poverty and crime. Studies have indicated frequently that the correlation to crime is more accurately one associated with poverty and not race. In a study conducted by Lance Hannon and Robert DeFina, the researchers found that “Reductions in neighborhood poverty appear to produce similar reductions in violent crime in white [neighborhoods] and black and brown neighborhoods.” (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J134v09n03_03?journalCode=wpov20 (Links to an external site.))

Examining actions undertaken by various iterations of the U.S. government that systematically limited the rights of People of Color, like the 3/5ths compromise, Jim Crow laws, and a myriad of de jure segregation laws that prevented people in black and brown communities from accessing similar economic mobility as their white counterparts; do you believe the U.S. government created a institutionalized structure of economic disparity? Why or Why not? Moreover, if this system does exist and it perpetuates restraints on economic mobility, causing poverty which increases the likelihood that criminal activity will result in ALL communities, why do you think the government allows these socioeconomic barriers to persist? Wouldn’t abatement of these economic obstacles likely be a public benefit to everyone, especially if it reduced poverty and thereby lowered the crime rate?

Be certain to support your response with information from the reading, lecture and outside sources if necessary. Please cite any outside sources used to support your position.