( CNN ) -- I have a bright , funny 12-year-old son . He plays a mean game of basketball , loves strawberry banana smoothies and spends way too much time texting on his iPhone . And , if you believe a new study just released , there 's a 50-50 chance he 'll end up in handcuffs sometime before he turns 23 . A report from the University of South Carolina and the University of Albany released this month in the journal Crime & Delinquency argued that by the time they reach age 23 , nearly one in two black males ( 49 % ) will have been arrested . And the study does n't even count arrests in minor traffic violations . One out of two . And for white males , there is almost a 40 % chance they will have been arrested by 23 , according to the report . For Latino males , its 44 % . Females fare slightly better . By age 23 , arrest rates were 20 % for white females , 18 % for Latinas and 16 % black females . Looking deeper into the study , it showed that for younger boys -- those of any race who have yet to turn 18 -- there is about a one in four chance they 'll get arrested . That is stunning , no matter what race you are . There are critics of the study who say that methodology is flawed , that `` it is more of an experiment about handling missing waves of data from a longitudinal sample than a meaningful study about race , gender and crime , '' Ivory A. Toldson , an author and Ph.D researcher at Howard University , said in an article on TheRoot.com . But even if the number is off by half , it 's still alarming . Can you imagine the impact of your young son -- or grandson , or nephew , or cousin or brother -- having to look down the barrel of a police officer 's gun , or having his wrists forcibly twisted behind his back and handcuffed in public ? And , in many cases , all before he is old enough to vote . Or drive . Or get a job . Can you imagine how that young boy will grow up to be a man ? Can you imagine his feelings toward the police -- many of whom are trying as hard as they can to keep the streets safe -- who put those handcuffs on him ? Will he trust them ? Will he respect them ? Or will he fear them ? Now , can you imagine the difficulties when that same young man goes to get a job ? Many employers ask you at the end of that job application form whether you have ever been arrested . These kids will forever have to check the YES box , hoping they get the chance to explain away the circumstances later . But we know most will never make it to the first interview . The study 's author put it in context . `` A problem is that many males -- especially black males -- are navigating the transition from youth to adulthood with the baggage and difficulties from contact with the criminal justice system , '' said Robert Brame , a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina and lead author of the report . Ours is a society that lives in fear . A society that has created a multibillion-dollar industry based on locking people up . We want our cops to protect us , to confront first , arrest next , then resolve later . Sure , crime is a real problem in America , although the crime rate has been steadily declining for more than the past decade , according to the FBI . So has the rate of young black men entering accredited four-year colleges , compared to black females and others . But the unemployment rate among those same young men -- many of whom had to check that YES box on the application -- is still more than twice that of the population at large , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . As a father , I will do everything I can to make sure my son is not one of the 50 % who get arrested , but instead among the 50 % who do n't . I am determined that my son will do great in school , stay away from the wrong element in the streets and , by 23 , will have hopefully graduated from college , gone on to graduate school or started his first job in the real world ( and moved out of the house , for sure ! ) But it just angers me that , in 2014 , I now have to teach him , along with how to tie a tie , how to write a proper resume and how to open the door for a lady , how he must behave when confronted by the police . Keep your hands at 10 and 2 . Do n't make any fast moves . Do n't talk back . And do what they ask of you . And maybe , just maybe , you wo n't end up on your knees , hands behind your back , feeling the cold of the steel around your wrists . Maybe ... The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bryan Monroe .
Recent research says black males have a 50 % chance of being arrested by age 23 . White males have a 40 % chance of arrest by same age . Critics of the study say it is flawed . Monroe : What do I tell my parents about how to avoid being arrested ?