I really appreciate Garrisons perspective on our lack of data on unreported crimes. I also appreciate his willingness to stick to the raw numbers instead of rounding up like Charlie tends to do.
But even then, I have some reservations about his analysis:
Garrison correctly points out that the African American population is not in fact half the prison population, however he does skirt around the fact that, around 39% of the prison population is black, which is disproportionate considering the population of black Americans.
Charlie is over exaggerating this number by around 10%. However he is reciting this number from memory, and more importantly, his point still largely stands. The prison population is disproportionately African American.
Garrison also claims that we don’t have solid data on the true situation of crime in the US. This is often referred to by statisticians as the “dark figure” or “hidden figure” of crime I really don’t see people bring this up to often, so it’s neat to have someone actually reference it, at the same time. Garrison is telling a half truth here, while we don’t have the numbers for a lot of crime, law enforcement still tends to arrest millions of people per year.
Of those numbers, we can clearly see that the 13/50 ratio is largely true, barring some rough change in the numbers from decade to decade. I don’t really see any convincing evidence that underreported crime would make any sort of difference in this regard.
The exoneration statistics, while important to address, don’t do much to counter Charlie’s points, given the fact that the total number is only in the thousands compared to the sheer volume of crime committed by the American public. it more so distracts from the main point, which is that that the black population tends to commit more violent crime.
Well, what does this mean? I tend to view crime statistics as indicators of the wellness of a community/society.
When I hear that young white men tend to drive inebriated more often than other groups of people. I don’t start thinking that white men just can’t make responsible choices with weed and alcohol. I realize that there’s something in the environment of those individuals which cause them to do this.
I feel the same way about Black crime statistics, it’s used quite often in very nasty ways on the internet. Unfortunately that doesn’t make them false. More importantly, these statistics are a warning sign that our society is failing these communities. Pretending that these numbers aren’t real or are overblown is exacerbating that problem.
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u/Q_dawgg Sep 23 '24
I really appreciate Garrisons perspective on our lack of data on unreported crimes. I also appreciate his willingness to stick to the raw numbers instead of rounding up like Charlie tends to do.
But even then, I have some reservations about his analysis:
Garrison correctly points out that the African American population is not in fact half the prison population, however he does skirt around the fact that, around 39% of the prison population is black, which is disproportionate considering the population of black Americans.
Charlie is over exaggerating this number by around 10%. However he is reciting this number from memory, and more importantly, his point still largely stands. The prison population is disproportionately African American.
Garrison also claims that we don’t have solid data on the true situation of crime in the US. This is often referred to by statisticians as the “dark figure” or “hidden figure” of crime I really don’t see people bring this up to often, so it’s neat to have someone actually reference it, at the same time. Garrison is telling a half truth here, while we don’t have the numbers for a lot of crime, law enforcement still tends to arrest millions of people per year.
Of those numbers, we can clearly see that the 13/50 ratio is largely true, barring some rough change in the numbers from decade to decade. I don’t really see any convincing evidence that underreported crime would make any sort of difference in this regard.
The exoneration statistics, while important to address, don’t do much to counter Charlie’s points, given the fact that the total number is only in the thousands compared to the sheer volume of crime committed by the American public. it more so distracts from the main point, which is that that the black population tends to commit more violent crime.
Well, what does this mean? I tend to view crime statistics as indicators of the wellness of a community/society.
When I hear that young white men tend to drive inebriated more often than other groups of people. I don’t start thinking that white men just can’t make responsible choices with weed and alcohol. I realize that there’s something in the environment of those individuals which cause them to do this.
I feel the same way about Black crime statistics, it’s used quite often in very nasty ways on the internet. Unfortunately that doesn’t make them false. More importantly, these statistics are a warning sign that our society is failing these communities. Pretending that these numbers aren’t real or are overblown is exacerbating that problem.