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Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

eurekalert.org

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Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#141

Post by morgante »

EpicEng wrote: post #121
morgante wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think that this trend, at least in part, has been influenced by a change in the way that we treat adolescent crime. For example, even when I was a kid (early 90's) you would not get arrested for getting into a fist fight at school. Nowadays, bam; call the cops. Well, the people in this study were born in the early 80s. So I'm not sure any modern shifts that you point to are the distinctive factor.

No, they were 18 between 1997 and 2008, so they were *born in the between 1979 and 1990, i.e., they were teenagers in the 90's or early 00's, same age as me (DOB 1983). "The study is an analysis of national survey data from 1997 to 2008 of teenagers and young adults, ages 18"

I guess we had different ideas of kids. This data is based on NLSY97, meaning the subjects were born between 1981 and 1985. [1]

Still, doesn't that contradict your point about these results being based on a substantial difference from when you were a kid? As you point out, this study is based on exactly your cohort. Thus it's not a matter of policies nowadays leading to 40% arrest rates. That figure is based directly on the policies of the 90s.

[1] http://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#142

Post by [deleted] »

byoung2 wrote: post #138
sanj wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"However, an employer may make an employment decision based on the conduct underlying an arrest if the conduct makes the individual unfit for the position in question." Which is more than enough wiggle room.

True. If you are truly innocent of the crime, you should have a good case to get the arrest record expunged (e.g. arrested for a case of mistaken identity and the charges are dropped). If there is enough evidence that you can't file a motion to dismiss, and the case goes to trial, then I suppose you have some explaining to do. The employer might be justified in denying employment if you engage in behavior that result…

[deleted]

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#143

Post by ryanlchan »

Steer wrote: post #139
ddlatham wrote: post #83

Most striking are the race differences revealed in the study, Brame says. In particular, the research points to a higher prevalence of arrest among black males and little race variation in arrest rates among females. ... By age 23, 49 percent of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic males and 38 percent of white males have been arrested. ... By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 1…

Strange, but coming from an European background while taking in a lot of American culture, I was (pleasantly, I guess) surprised that the discrepancy between white and black males wasn't larger. I am more or less shocked about he percentages overall, but really thought the gap was much larger. Sorry if this doesn't add anything substantial, but I honestly would have have guessed that it was about 3 times more black m…

The arrest rate is also different from the incarceration rate, which is much more heavily skewed. According to Pew, black men are incarcerated at ~6.5 the rate that white men are, per capita[1].

[1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/06/incarceratio...

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#144

Post by jedmeyers »

giberson wrote: post #105

Laws in the US are far too strict. I am one of the people that are covered by this statistic, I was arrested around age 16. For curfew. Curfew, the law that says you can't be outside after an arbitrarily dictated time. Absolutely ridiculous. For what it is worth--my record has been "expunged" and this arrest has not affected my adult life at all.

I unknowingly broke the curfew when I came to US the first time as an exchange student, also at age 16. As it turned out later my host parent has been waiting for me on a back parking lot while I was out on the street corner. Anyway, instead of an arrest I got a free ride home in a police car. I wonder if it has something to do with the skin color or that the area I was in is a low crime neighborhood.

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#145

Post by Crito »

giberson wrote: post #105

Laws in the US are far too strict. I am one of the people that are covered by this statistic, I was arrested around age 16. For curfew. Curfew, the law that says you can't be outside after an arbitrarily dictated time. Absolutely ridiculous. For what it is worth--my record has been "expunged" and this arrest has not affected my adult life at all.

Philadelphia instituted a youth curfew because local highschool kids developed a interest in flash mobs. Not flash mobs where lots of people in a train station start dancing all of a sudden, but rather flash mobs where they all start texting all of their friends that they are going to all meet at 15th and South Street in 10 minutes to riot and loot.

I'll grant that in most cases youth curfews are probably senseless, but in some cases they are used as desperate measures by cities looking to curb random organized violence committed categorically by bored teenagers on hot summer nights.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/10/philadelphia-fig...

I was living in that city while that stuff was going full swing; it was truly insane. When you walked through areas that were frequently targeted and looked down the alleys, you would see that every single alley on the street was filled with cops, some in riot gear, and some on horseback, and paddy wagons. They would just be standing around, waiting for the call for where the flash mob would be that night.

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#146

Post by jakethedog »

cbsmith wrote: post #115
newman8r wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting the article downplays the discrepancy in the female arrest rates based on race.

It's because the author is bad at interpreting statistics and doesn't recognize that a 4% difference when the average rate is closer to 18% is a way bigger difference than a 5 or even 6% difference when the average rate is closer to 40%.

The manuscript highlights the differences among the male populations are significant while those among the female populations are within the estimated confidence intervals.

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#147

Post by watwut »

Pxtl wrote: post #116
EpicEng wrote: post #58

I think that this trend, at least in part, has been influenced by a change in the way that we treat adolescent crime. For example, even when I was a kid (early 90's) you would not get arrested for getting into a fist fight at school. Nowadays, bam; call the cops. Get caught with some pot? Arrested. Get caught performing some petty vandalization? Arrested. Get caught at a party drinking as a minor? Arrested. We arrest…

Honestly, I'm not sure that police involvement for this stuff is a bad thing. Schools are no longer equipped to handle violence between students, and it's questionable whether they ever were. They've lost many disciplinary tools they could use to deal with violent students, and even then it's hard to say that schools properly handled bullying or other student-on-student violence issues back in the "good old days". Br…

Except that actual violence comitted by teens is going down.

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#148

Post by MBCook »

Tloewald wrote: post #89
voidlogic wrote: post #82

I really want to see a heat map of this phenomena. I have a feeling there is strong geographic and urban/rural differences here. I would also like to see the percentage of the population that has been arrested by age. This statistic is definitely not representative of where I live, that being said I don't disbelieve it, I just want to understand the details. P.S. I am also disgusted when children are charged as adult…

It's pretty hard to imagine you can get figures like this without it being prevalent in urban areas.

That's why you'd use per-capita rates and not absolute numbers.

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#149

Post by comrade1 »

There are far too many laws in the u.s. and you can never know when you're breaking a law. And enforcement is often arbitrary and based on if the police want to harass/check you, or if they want to pile charges on top of another charge to get you to deal on a plea.

Some countries view laws as a failure of society. You don't pass a law until your society has failed in that way, and instead you use social norms/controls. For example, Switzerland has no minimum wage but has a moral minimum wage of around $50K (except for a few worker types)

The u.s. seems to view laws as a way to mold society into a vision. But you end up with way too many laws that you could never know.

Re: Study: Half of black males, 40% of white males arrested by age 23

#150

Post by [deleted] »

ddlatham wrote: post #83

Most striking are the race differences revealed in the study, Brame says. In particular, the research points to a higher prevalence of arrest among black males and little race variation in arrest rates among females. ... By age 23, 49 percent of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic males and 38 percent of white males have been arrested. ... By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 1…

[deleted]
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