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I don't believe that race is directly the reason. I believe that in black and Hispanic cultures stable, two-parent families are not the norm. While other groups have plenty of divorce there are plenty of intact families to imitate and model off of.
Also, and this is where poverty does come in there are no real recreational opportunities for teens. Sex and to a lesser extent violence fill the need for thrill.
That intact family hypothesis of yours would also explain the relatively low levels of crime amongst Asians.
Just as an example, I was in criminal court months ago and there was a 17-year-old black kid. Well spoken, intelligent, good grades, great athlete. He had scholarships to go to college. Well, he decided to take an airsoft gun and rob some guy's cellphone as he was walking home from the mall with a friend. They just kept walking down the street and got picked up (not seasoned criminals we're talking about here). It's not like people didn't care about him. His high school coach showed up, his mom, his pastor. He just made a bad choice and most likely his life as it could have been is now over. He'll most likely end up pleading guilty, get the minimum sentence, and be out in a year. Unfortunately, he'll also be a felon and won't be going to college. I don't think any of that had really sunk in for him yet. This was just the arraignment. He didn't seem to comprehend that he'd just chosen to ruin his life.
How intelligent could this young man have been to not realize that brandishing a weapon in an effort to steal a cell phone was a bad choice? I don't care what color the teen is. Did his dad show up for him, too? Or is he like so many other young men out there who do not have a father in their lives?
It's sad that this young man threw his life away over one very stupid decision, but where are these kids getting the idea that robbery -- especially at gun point -- is something worth doing?
This thread should be locked to protect the naive white people posting in it from their own ignorance. This is not a discussion it is idle speculation, except by the small minority of actual black and/or hispanic posters. And lets go there for a minute... black and hispanic... so cliche... have any of you actually looked at the rates of hispanic incarceration? Does it come close to the rate of black incarceration? If I were hispanic I'd be a little annoyed at constantly being lumped in with black people with respect to criminality. Or maybe I'd be too busy enjoying the 3% unemployment rate that some segments of the hispanic community enjoy. Tommorow I will tell you about living in a town with a black population of less than 1%. This place is crawling with felons. Every third person you meet is an ex-offender and none of them are black. Or hispanic for that matter! I've lived in a number of 99% white towns and it is pretty much the same in those places. Where there are black people they will be the go to source of fodder for the Prison Industrial Complex. Period. The reason is about 400 years old.
That intact family hypothesis of yours would also explain the relatively low levels of crime amongst Asians.
Not too many Asian single moms out there.
All races have their criminal element. All. By the numbers, whites have the largest population of criminals in all categories. Period! There are more than 3x as many white drug traffickers, users, dealers, etc. than black ones yet blacks are by far the largest numbers of incarcerated drug criminals. I know personally huge numbers of men and women (white) in RC sentence programs where they go in to prison overnight and on weekends to serve time for felonies! Blacks are never given these alternative sentencing options. I know a black guy who did 3 months in prison for urinating behind a dumpster because his bail was so high that his entire family couldn't come up with it. I don't know personally but I see on the street Asian prostitutes and also Asian gang-bangers. See, this is the kind of naivete that boils my blood because it is so entrenched. Those Asian skanks are sashaying right past you and you don't even notice them but you zero in on the black woman in tight jeans who is in fact NOT a prostitute. I go in a store with my (white) ex and she tells the store detective following us that while they are watching me $500 just walked out the store in the purses of three white women. The alarms go off and the Merchandise Retention people don't even flinch. Let one go off with a black person near it and its shoot-out at the OK Corral. I seriously hope this thread is locked by the time I wake up tomorrow. I'm on West Coast time so it should be possible. I'm all for debate and constructive argument but not the pointless rehash of tired talking points. Biased talking points.
Google Owsley, KY. It is 98%+ White, the poorest county in the US, or near it, with massive unemployment, and....average crime on a national level.
And? Forest Grove, OR? Livonia, MI? Syracuse, NY? Majority white all of them. Average crime. Not NO crime! Plenty of crime in fact, just less reported than Baltimore, MD or Detroit, MI or Brooklyn, NY. Given the incredible advantages of white privilege, and the smug superiority of posters like yourself, I assert that there should actually be NO crime at all in places like Owsley, KY. There should be no unemployment, no teen pregnancies, no out of wedlock pregnancies, there should be no taint of the kind of ghetto scenarios that are common in... the ghetto. I'm just saying. What exactly is your point anyway?
Each socioeconomic level has a tendency to their own crime, I am sure every person shoplifted something at least once in their life, mostly during adolescence.
The emphasis is on the senseless violent crimes where people get hurt.
Focusing on Race alone is very counterproductive when addressing issues of our nation as whole.
Nope. Not even once. I did as a kid once take something I thought my dad paid for (I was 6?). We went back to the convenience store and paid for it, iirc.
And? Forest Grove, OR? Livonia, MI? Syracuse, NY? Majority white all of them. Average crime. Not NO crime! Plenty of crime in fact, just less reported than Baltimore, MD or Detroit, MI or Brooklyn, NY. Given the incredible advantages of white privilege, and the smug superiority of posters like yourself, I assert that there should actually be NO crime at all in places like Owsley, KY. There should be no unemployment, no teen pregnancies, no out of wedlock pregnancies, there should be no taint of the kind of ghetto scenarios that are common in... the ghetto. I'm just saying. What exactly is your point anyway?
My point is that it's not socioeconomics. I don't think under reporting works in the case of homicide and arson...those are still listed as crimes. Some just may not be solved.
How intelligent could this young man have been to not realize that brandishing a weapon in an effort to steal a cell phone was a bad choice? I don't care what color the teen is. Did his dad show up for him, too? Or is he like so many other young men out there who do not have a father in their lives?
It's sad that this young man threw his life away over one very stupid decision, but where are these kids getting the idea that robbery -- especially at gun point -- is something worth doing?
That's the question isn't it?
I like the response of, oh, it's the systems fault as well. Everyone knows white people get a stern warning and sent home when they commit armed robbery
Plus a horrendous amount of white collar crime is never prosecuted so the numbers are skewed. Which is worse on society: A white collar crime where in a single transaction $millions are stolen or a minority stealing $20 from a convenience store?
Not all white collar crime is done by white people.
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