Title: The Myth of the Black-on-Black Crime Epidemic | Demos
Headings: The Myth of the Black-on-Black Crime Epidemic
The Myth of the Black-on-Black Crime Epidemic
INCIDENTS OF VIOLENT CRIME VICTIMIZATION PER 1,000 INDIVIDUALS AGE 12 AND OLDER
Black on Black Crime Facts
Racial Inequality in the Criminal Justice System Facts

Content: Five times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites. African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of Whites. African American juvenile youth are about 16% of the youth population, 37% of their cases are moved to criminal court & 58% of convicted African American youth are sent to adult prisons. Controlling for other factors, including severity of the offense and prior criminal history, white men aged 18-29 were 38% less likely to be sentenced to prison than their Black male peers. African American women are three times more likely than white women to be incarcerated. African American defendants are 21% more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than Whites and are 20% more like to be sentenced to prison. While it is essential that we address the high levels of violence and incarceration in America compared to other industrialized countries, we cannot accurately do so by perpetuating the myth of a uniquely African American pathology toward violence and crime. Instead of denying the downward trends in crime in the Black community, we must applaud it and reward it with a serious examination of racial inequality in the American criminal justice system. Although, I am not sure whether our new found defenders of the Black community would agree.