The merits

"It'south important to notation that blackness men commit well-nigh half of all murders in this country, which is astounding when you take into consideration the fact that they only make upwardly 12-13 per cent of the population."

"James", 26 November 2014

In that location were angry protests across America this week after a thou jury decided a white police officer should non stand trial for the killing of black teenager Michael Brownish in Ferguson, Missouri.

FactCheck has already looked at the statistics on killings by law enforcement officials. Though imperfect, the official figures suggest blacks are disproportionately likely to die at the easily of police.

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Several people have left comments pointing out that this is non necessarily surprising or unfair, since blacks are likewise disproportionately likely to be involved in violent crime in the U.s.a., thereby putting themselves in the firing line.

One reader, "James", wrote: "Information technology's important to note that black men commit nearly one-half of all murders in this country, which is astounding when you take into consideration the fact that they only make up 12-xiii per cent of the population.

"Then, given this fact, does it brand sense that black men are disproportionately involved in shootings with the police? Your graph is appropriately proportionate, when you lot accept into consideration the role that the blackness population plays in, not merely murder, but crime in general."

"Sean" said: "If ane group is more than likely to be involved in that then they are more probable to exist killed by the police – and so they have nil to complain nearly if that is the case."

We thought we'd bank check these claims out.

The analysis

It's true that around 13 per cent of Americans are black, according to the latest estimates from the Usa Demography Bureau.

And yes, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, blackness offenders committed 52 per cent of homicides recorded in the data betwixt 1980 and 2008. Only 45 per cent of the offenders were white. Homicide is a broader category than "murder" only let'southward not split hairs.

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Blacks were unduly probable to commit homicide and to be the victims. In 2008 the offending rate for blacks was vii times higher than for whites and the victimisation rate was vi times higher.

Every bit nosotros found yesterday, 93 per cent of black victims were killed past blacks and 84 per cent of white victims were killed past whites.

Alternative statistics from the FBI are more up to date but include many crimes where the killer'south race is non recorded. These numbers tell a like story.

In 2013, the FBI has black criminals carrying out 38 per cent of murders, compared to 31.ane per cent for whites. The offender's race was "unknown" in 29.1 per cent of cases.

What about violent offense more by and large? FBI arrest rates are 1 manner into this. Over the concluding 3 years of data – 2011 to 2013 – 38.5 per cent of people arrested for murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated set on were blackness.

Clearly, these figures are problematic. We're talking about arrests not convictions, and loftier black abort rates could be taken as evidence that the constabulary are racist.

Police corral protesters before making mass arrests in Los Angeles, following Monday's grand jury decision in the shooting of Brown

But academics have noted that the proportion of black suspects arrested by the police tends to lucifer closely the proportion of offenders identified equally black by victims in the National Crime Victimization Survey.

This doesn't support the idea that the police are unfairly discriminating against the black population when they make arrests.

Then why are black offenders – and young blackness men in item – over-represented in America's crime statistics?

Judging from online comments, there is a broad spectrum of views on this, from unapologetic racism to militant refusal to blame the problem on anything only celebrated white racism.

Some criminologists think we could be simply confusing race for poverty or inequality: black people tend to offend more considering they tend to be more disadvantaged, living in poorer urban areas with less access to public services, and so on.

If you command for impecuniousness, people of different races ought to be similarly predisposed to commit crime. Or that's the theory, at least.

There is a lot of research in this area, but a lot of information technology is contradictory.

This study of vehement crime in deprived neighbourhoods in Cleveland, Ohio, found that reductions in poverty led to reductions in the criminal offence rate in exactly the same way in predominantly black and white areas, suggesting poverty, not race, is the biggest factor.

Other studies become different results.

All sociologists accept suffered from the same basic trouble: finding urban white communities that are equally disadvantaged every bit the poorest black neighbourhoods, so that you tin go a fair comparison.

Some thinkers play down the importance of poverty in favour of the "fierce subculture theory".

This is the idea that some black communities, for some reason, have developed cultural values that are more than tolerant of offense and violence.

Some commentators on the unrest in Ferguson – mostly right-wing, though not all white – seem to favour this idea, but naturally information technology remains highly controversial.

The verdict

In that location is testify in the official police force-recorded figures that black Americans are more probable to commit certain types of crime than people of other races.

While information technology would exist naïve to suggest that there is no racism in the Us criminal justice system, victim reports don't support the idea that this is because of mass discrimination.

College poverty rates amongst various urban blackness communities might explicate the difference in offense rates, although the evidence is mixed.

There are few elementary answers and links between crime and race are likely to remain the discipline of bitter argument.

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