Black vs. White Crime Statistics

The myth of white privilege says blacks are arrested and incarcerated at a higher rate due to systemic racism that exists in the law enforcement and court systems. However white privilege isn’t real, and we’re going to prove that institutional racism isn’t the cause, but the breakdown in the family unit and uneducated people who make bad life choices are the real causes of the problem.

Do Blacks Commit More Violent Crimes Than Whites?

Is a black person more likely to be a criminal than a white person? According to 2016 stats from the US Census Bureau non-Hispanic whites makeup 61.3% of the population, and blacks make up 13.1% of the population. (2016 US Census results / archive)

If we look at the FBI statistics for violent crimes we can see that whites committed 241,063 of the 408,873 violent crimes, which is 58% of the total. So 61% of the population is committing 58% of the violent crimes, so the math lines up. (FBI Table 21 Arrests by Race and Ethnicity, 2016 / archive)

If we take a look at the number of violent crimes committed by blacks we can see they committed 153,341 of the 408,873 violent crimes, which is 37% of the violent crimes. If blacks make up 13% of the population they should only be committing 13% of the crimes, instead, they are committing crimes almost three times as many crimes as they should be.

Is the US Criminal Justice System Guilty of Systemic Racism against Blacks?

The myth of white privilege says that the police and the court system in the United States is guilty of systemic racism and bias and unfairly arrests and prosecutes blacks. Fortunately, there is an easy way to prove this isn’t true by looking at the population and crime records of another developed first world county that doesn’t have any of the biases the US system is accused of. Looking at the ethnic breakdown of the United Kingdom (England) we can see that blacks makeup 2.8% of the population. (The ethnic population of England and Wales broken down by local authority / archive)

The UK Government doesn’t provide a table of data the way the FBI does, they only present a graph, however by looking at it you can see the crime statistics are almost an exact match for the US statistics. The top graph is a representation of the total population, and blacks are represented by the small light blue sliver. The next line represents arrests, and you can see the light blue sliver is much bigger here, almost three times as big. The next line which represents convictions and the light blue sliver representing blacks is again almost three times the size of the first line. (Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2014 / archive)

When we eliminated the US Justice System, which is accused of giving whites privilege and having a systemic racial bias, blacks still committed crimes disproportionally higher than their percentage of the population. The disproportionate rate that crimes are being committed in the US is almost identical to the rate it is in the UK, proving there is no bias in the US Criminal Justice system.

Why Are Blacks More Likely to Become Criminals

As we discussed in our Black vs White The Breakdown in Family Values article there are many contributing factors. It starts with black pregnancies that create single-parent households, that are more likely to live in a poverty or low-income situation. This low-income situation creates an environment that produces children that have a higher rate of dropping out of school or are more likely to engage in criminal behavior. Creating a repeating cycle of low-income single parent households that remain uneducated and more likely to commit crimes in the future.

Systemic biases or institutional racism isn’t what’s creating this situation. Black men and women who are engaging in sexual activity, without using birth control, and getting pregnant are the people responsible for creating the problem. Black males who create children, don’t get married, and abandon their parental responsibilities are the people who take a bad situation and keep it from getting any better. The system isn’t to blame, the black people involved are.

Black vs White Crime Statistics Conclusion

• It’s an uncomfortable truth but blacks commit crimes at nearly three times the rate that whites do.
• Blacks commit 36% of the violent crime in the US even though they are only 13% of the population.
• Blacks in England commit crimes at nearly three times the rate of their population rate.
• The parity in black crime rates in the US and black crime rates in the UK prove that there is no systemic or institutional racial bias in the US, and that the judicial system is not unfairly targeting blacks.
• There is no systemic racism in US Judicial System.
• There is no racial bias that unfairly targets innocent blacks in the US Criminal system.
• The cycle of black crime begins with the breakdown of family values that has 72% of black pregnancies creating low-income single parent households.
• Black children growing up in single-parent low-income situations are likely to repeat this cycle unless they raise children in a married two-parent household with more stability.
• White privilege isn’t creating a system that unfairly arrests and prosecutes blacks, the black parents making bad life choices are creating situations that increase the likelihood of bad outcomes happening are the ones responsible.
• White privilege isn’t real and isn’t responsible for blacks committing more crimes, black adults making poor life choices are the ones responsible.

Sources:
Heritage.org: Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty / archive
US Census: 2016 US Census results / archive
FBI: FBI Table 21 Arrests by Race and Ethnicity, 2016 / archive
Guardian: The ethnic population of England and Wales broken down by local authority / archive
UK Government: Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2014 / archive