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Another related issue is do blacks get tougher punishments for committing crimes against whites than they do for committing the same crimes against other Blacks?
I see this with the death penalty. It seems like whenever a Black person kills someone white they will either get a very long sentence or the death penalty. But it seems to be rare for a Black person to get the death penalty or a very long sentence for killing another Black person.
Another related issue is do blacks get tougher punishments for committing crimes against whites than they do for committing the same crimes against other Blacks?
I see this with the death penalty. It seems like whenever a Black person kills someone white they will either get a very long sentence or the death penalty. But it seems to be rare for a Black person to get the death penalty or a very long sentence for killing another Black person.
I just spun the data from this site.DPIC | Death Penalty Information Center which dates back to 76.
If you take out the outliers (mass murders) and look at single murders:
Black on Black 140
Black on White 270
Whites on Black 19
Whites on White 628
Count of Victim victim
Murderer B W Grand Total
Black 13.25% 25.54% 38.79%
White 1.80% 59.41% 61.21%
Grand Total 15.04% 84.96% 100.00%
It doesn't appear Blacks get more death penalty as Blacks as a % of population commit half the entire total murders. Whites 63% of population, Blacks 13%
There needs to be a very technical understanding of the analysis because it isn't a valid statistical study which you arguably cannot do with available data.
It ignores people getting deals, taking deals, quality of legal defense due to economics and much much more.
So, for example, the root cause could really be the poverty (caused by historic racism) as opposed to judges being racist and giving blacks longer sentences.
It's really important to note that the study in the WSJ article showed blacks getting 20% longer sentences but that does not mean that blacks (due directly to race) got tougher punishments.
Again, the END result in terms of blacks in prison etc shows that there has indeed been a historical issue at work. However, the studies you are linking to don't accurately identify a smoking gun and there may not even be one...these are complex issues with many many contributing factors.
The problem is that it's a complicated issue and if you printed up a nice fair analysis of the situation you would lose 95% or more of the public during the explanation so you get simpler (less accurate) claims. These just get a little dangerous because they can then morph into stuff like "disparate impact" where blame gets heaped on someone else due to the actions of someone that caused the disparate impact.
For example, if blacks have crappier schools but then fewer blacks are hired by say....Microsoft, according to disparate impact Microsoft has racist hiring practices. It's dangerous thinking with regards to addressing the real problems.
Another related issue is do blacks get tougher punishments for committing crimes against whites than they do for committing the same crimes against other Blacks?
I see this with the death penalty. It seems like whenever a Black person kills someone white they will either get a very long sentence or the death penalty. But it seems to be rare for a Black person to get the death penalty or a very long sentence for killing another Black person.
"seems like"
"I see this"
"seems to be"
My suggestion is stop speculating and look for a valid trustworthy source that explains their analysis of the topic and includes their statistical process as well as some criticisms of their methodology flaws.
ANYTIME you see something complex being attributed to one factor you're being sold a bill of goods.
Good\fair analysis of the situation will always talk about the flaws in the study as well as what it seems to indicate.
Do Blacks get tougher punishments than whites even when they commit the same crimes and have similar records?
Probably yes..
But I know 2 white kids right now sitting in jail (over 2 weeks now) and 1 white one who hasnt even been questioned, for all doing the exact same crime..
My suggestion is stop speculating and look for a valid trustworthy source that explains their analysis of the topic and includes their statistical process as well as some criticisms of their methodology flaws.
ANYTIME you see something complex being attributed to one factor you're being sold a bill of goods.
Good\fair analysis of the situation will always talk about the flaws in the study as well as what it seems to indicate.
See here's the thing, it's actually not complex. It's an objective, binary answer. Yes or No. 1 or 0. And the answer is, objectively, yes. Black people are more likely to get arrested, more likely to get thrown in jail, and receive longer sentences than white people who commit the same crimes.
Now, why that's the case is complex, but the outcome is what it is.
The reason a black on white murder generally receives a harsher penalty is because a large amount of black on black murders stem from violent altercations or gang activity, while most black on white murders are premeditated crimes like car jackings, rapes, break ins etc. In these scenarios the victims generally did nothing to provoke an attack unlike the street altercations or a bad drug deals that claim the lives of so many young black men in inner cities.
I remember reading a report that basically showed that all races receive harsher sentences when their victims are not of the same race, including white on black.
If you want to see some really huge disparities in sentencing, look at the difference in the punishment for murdering or assaulting a woman vs a man (particularly a white woman)
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