Almost 50% of black males, 40% of white males arrested by the age of 23

[The End]

This is the sort of thing mainstream news and politicians should be talking about all the time. But it really doesn't seem to be addressed at all. The drug war, stop-and-searches, the courts, the private prison industry, would be primarily responsible for this frightening mess.

http://rt.com/usa/50-black-40-white-arrested-297/

Nearly half of the African-American men who grow up in the United States are arrested by the time they hit their 23rd birthday, according to a new landmark study that set out to examine biases within the criminal justice system.

The journal Crime & Delinquency published the study Monday, which found that 49 percent of African-American males and 40 percent of Caucasians had been arrested by 23.

The authors, led by criminologist Robert Brame from the University of South Carolina, also wrote that 44 percent of Hispanic males were taken into police custody by the same age, “which can hurt their ability to find work, go to school and participate fully in their communities,” they wrote in a press release.

Researchers began tracking 7,000 young men between the ages of 12 and 17 from 1997 to 2008. They excluded traffic offenses but did note arrests for crimes ranging from truancy to violent assaults.

“By age 18, 30 percent of black males, 26 percent of Hispanic males and 22 percent of white males have been arrested,” the scholars determined. Those numbers increased drastically by over the next five years, something that was unique to males.

“While the prevalence of arrest increased for females from 18 to 23, the variation between races was slight,” the team wrote. “At age 18, arrest rates were 12 percent for white females and 11.8 percent and 11.9 percent Hispanics and black females, respectively. By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 16 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively.”

Brame warned that the study is by no means comprehensive, but said it does offer a snapshot into the world that young people are growing up in.

“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,” the lead researcher wrote.

The motivation behind the study was the swelling American prison population which, while it seems to have reached a plateau, is higher than any other developed nation. Previous studies have shown that even if an individual is never charged or imprisoned, merely being arrested increases the chances that they will be arrested again in the future.

“As a society, we often worry a great deal about the effects of children watching television, eating junk food, playing sports and having access to good school,” Brame went on. “Experiencing formal contact with the criminal justice system could also have powerful effects on behavior and impose those substantial constraints on opportunities for America’s youth.”

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I just don't buy that 40% of white males are arrested by age 23. Something about that finding seems very flawed.

 

[NickNitro]

Im 100% a white male at the age of 25 and have never been arrested. Win

I just don't buy that 40% of white males are arrested by age 23. Something about that finding seems very flawed.

Have you ever watched To Catch a Predator or Cops?

 

[Feenix]

I just don't buy that 40% of white males are arrested by age 23. Something about that finding seems very flawed.

That's because the methodology is flawed.

Researchers began tracking 7,000 young men between the ages of 12 and 17 from 1997 to 2008. They excluded traffic offenses but did note arrests for crimes ranging from truancy to violent assaults.

That's a small number for the entire population of the United States. As well, where did they pick the 7,000 from? Rich neighborhoods? Poor neighborhoods? Both? What were the socio-economical backgrounds of these boys? What kind of household did they grow up in? 2 parent? 1 parent? Abusive? Did these boys belong to gangs?

As well, they say "arrested", not charged or convicted. How many of these arrests were legitimate? How many were at the wrong place at the wrong time?

This "study" is hugely flawed, based on the information we're getting. They may have answered all the above questions in the formal report, but for what we know, it's a total crap shoot.

 

[Warhammer]

Yeah, I was about to say. That's way too many white people going to jail.

 

[The End]

Trying to find the original journal article. Post it here if someone finds it.

Some more info here.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/uosc-sho010314.php

"The study, which is the first to use nationally representative data to provide estimates of lifetime prevalence of arrest by race and sex, highlights the importance of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 97 cohort," Bushway says. "The NLSY97 is the only survey collected by the U.S. government that includes longitudinal data on arrest for a cohort over time."

The study's key findings include:

By age 18, 30 percent of black males, 26 percent of Hispanic males and 22 percent of white males have been arrested.
By age 23, 49 percent of black males, 44 percent of Hispanic males and 38 percent of white males have been arrested.
While the prevalence of arrest increased for females from age 18 to 23, the variation between races was slight. At age 18, arrest rates were 12 percent for white females and 11.8 percent and 11.9 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively. By age 23, arrest rates were 20 percent for white females and 18 percent and 16 percent for Hispanic and black females, respectively.
In addition to Brame and Bushway, the research team included Ray Paternoster at the University of Maryland and Michael Turner at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The study, a representative sample of the larger population, builds on a previous one by the team that was released in January 2012 in the journal Pediatrics. That study garnered national attention for providing the first look since the 1960s at arrest prevalence and for its key finding that one in three people are arrested by age 23.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Yeah, this whole study is just BS. Also, thanks to the socioeconomic situation there's a much larger gap between blacks arrested and whites arrested than simply 20% higher as this study would indicate. Sorry, The End.

 

[The End]

'Just BS' in what way?

 

[Feenix]

Yeah, this whole study is just BS. Also, thanks to the socioeconomic situation there's a much larger gap between blacks arrested and whites arrested than simply 20% higher as this study would indicate. Sorry, The End.

It's a fear-mongering report. The kind that people will use to try and change laws and whatnot. I'm disappointed in the criminologists that did this study. Especially in the last line where it says:

As a society, we often worry a great deal about the effects of children watching television, eating junk food, playing sports and having access to good school,” Brame went on.

That's a very short-sighted view on the issue. It's not a personal problem, it's a societal one and one that needs to be fixed on the societal level. I highly doubt the kids that grow up in ghettos are getting arrested because they watch too much TV or eat too much junk food. It goes much deeper than that.

 

[Donnie Darko]

30 years old and never arrested! Take that other white males! In your face!

 

[The End]

I'd like to see the original journal (which apparently is peer-reviewed) to know more about the methodology.

But ya can't just dismiss it out of hand because the figures don't seem to gel with your current perception.

The incarceration rate in the United States IS the highest in the world; so can the figures in this study really be that surprising?

http://www.webcitation.org/5xRCN8YmR

 

[The End]

It's a fear-mongering report. The kind that people will use to try and change laws and whatnot. I'm disappointed in the criminologists that did this study. Especially in the last line where it says:



That's a very short-sighted view on the issue. It's not a personal problem, it's a societal one and one that needs to be fixed on the societal level. I highly doubt the kids that grow up in ghettos are getting arrested because they watch too much TV or eat too much junk food. It goes much deeper than that.

Wow... that's NOT the context. Even within the article without access to the journal you can see that's not the context, you just have to read the next sentence.

“Experiencing formal contact with the criminal justice system could also have powerful effects on behavior and impose those substantial constraints on opportunities for America’s youth.”

He's not saying people are getting arrested because they're eating too much junk food.

To clarify - he's stating factors that people concentrate on that constrain opportunities for the youth (people concentrate on the fact that kids eat junk food).

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Why do they leave Asians out of these studies?

Is it because they have a lower arrest rate than whites?

 

[SentinelMind]

I agree the study seems to have been conducted with huge population bias. Nonetheless, the issue of high incarceration of young males should be investigated. America has highest incarceration rate in the world.

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/us-incarceration.aspx

 

[SentinelMind]

Why do they leave Asians out of these studies?

Is it because they have a lower arrest rate than whites?

would that really surprise you?

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

It's a fear-mongering report. The kind that people will use to try and change laws and whatnot. I'm disappointed in the criminologists that did this study. Especially in the last line where it says:



That's a very short-sighted view on the issue. It's not a personal problem, it's a societal one and one that needs to be fixed on the societal level. I highly doubt the kids that grow up in ghettos are getting arrested because they watch too much TV or eat too much junk food. It goes much deeper than that.

Look at the statistics for stop and frisk in NYC.

They show blacks and Latinos stopped and /or arrested far more than their white counterparts.

Racial profiling is real and can be used in very unfair ways.

 

[Teelie]

It might be flawed but I believe it. I didn't see "violent crime" as the sole reason to get arrested. Most people don't realize just how many laws we have and how easy it is to break one. There is a lot of nonviolent crime committed and all it states is arrests, not convictions.

If we upheld every law in the books and caught every (technical) crime, 90% of the entire population would probably be behind bars.

 

[Hal_Jordan]

There is a difference between getting arrested, and going to jail.

That said, those numbers still seem pretty high.

 

[The End]

Well this is the thing, they say your chances of being arrested again rise after the first time being arrested.

 

[Donnie Darko]

Why do they leave Asians out of these studies?

Is it because they have a lower arrest rate than whites?

I think it's because any time an Asian person might get arrested, they commit seppuku to avoid dishonor.

 

[Feenix]

Well this is the thing, they say your chances of being arrested again rise after the first time being arrested.

Sure, if they went to jail. The prison system in America creates life-long criminals.

 

[Destructus86]

A lot of it has to do with poverty, but also a lack of strong male role models in their lives. It's a vicious cycle. A kids dad isn't around, the kid turns to gangs to find that role model, grows up and has a kid and then is never around for the kid. Kid turns to crime and so on.

I actually am involved with a prison ministry (the pen pal part of it) and I keep hearing the same story over and over and over again.

 

[chamber-music]

I always thought crime figures based on race are bull. By most accounts young black males for example are far more likely than their equivalents from other races of being stopped and searched as well as more likely to be sent to prison if charged.

Also its far more easier and cheaper for police to go after street criminals than white collar criminals and organised crime.

 

[Feenix]

I always thought crime figures based on race are bull. By most accounts young black males for example are far more likely than their equivalents from other races of being stopped and searched as well as more likely to be sent to prison if charged.

Also its far more easier and cheaper for police to go after street criminals than white collar criminals and organised crime.

This White collar crime is a $600 billion a year industry and it destroys more lives than street crime ever could. But, the people who commit these types of crimes are rich, usually white, and powerful.

 

[The End]

Private Prisons Contribute Thousands To Oklahoma Political Campaigns

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/06/private-prisons-oklahoma_n_4548883.html

The role of private facilities under a new state prison reform law was among the concerns that led to the quashing of parts of the law, documents released by Gov. Mary Fallin's office show.

Operators of private prisons in Oklahoma angled for a slice of the prison reform pie, campaigning to have their halfway houses serve as the "intermediate sanctions facilities" spelled out in the new law to handle low-level offenders who violated terms of their release.

Leaders from Avalon Correctional Services and GEO both sought meetings with the Governor's Office and DOC officials regarding the Justice Reinvestment Initiative reforms, records show.

Private corrections and their supporters hand out a lot of campaign donations in Oklahoma politics. Since 2004, private corrections interests and those who represent them have spent more than $400,000 to fund various elected officials' campaigns and political causes, a Tulsa World analysis of Ethics Commission disclosure reports shows.

The amount spent includes $50,750 in contributions for incumbents' 2014 re-election campaigns, the analysis shows.

The $414,397 total spent ranges from a few bucks spent by lobbyists whose clients include a private corrections company to thousands spent to fund political events such as the Oklahoma Speaker's Ball.

Three private corrections companies with operations in the state -- Corrections Corporation of America, The Geo Group, Inc. and Avalon Correctional Services Inc. -- are the primary donors to political campaigns in Oklahoma.

An April 2012 email from a private prison lobbyist shows he sought a meeting with the governor on behalf of GEO President John Hurley and other executives.

"We would like to hear your thoughts on JRI and future impact on corrections," lobbyist Brett Robinson wrote.

That email is among more than 8,000 documents released by Fallin's office in response to Open Records requests regarding Oklahoma's stalled prison reform laws enacted in 2012 under House Bill 3052. The records also show an internal document from Fallin's office that listed a "possible concern" of HB 3052:

"Excludes private facilities," the email notes.

In March 2013, Avalon Chief Operating Officer Brian Costello sent Fallin's staff an email outlining his company's campaign to house the inmates sent to intermediate sanctions facilities under the prison reform law, something they began requesting in 2011.

Fallin's campaign committee is the top recipient of corporate corrections funding, receiving $38,250, through Sept. 30, records show.

Political action committees representing two private corrections companies with interests in the state have donated the maximum allowed, $5,000, to Fallin's 2010 and 2014 campaign committees.

A Fallin campaign spokeswoman said in an email that the donations represent less than half a percent of nearly $11 million raised by Fallin since 2002.

"The $10.9 million raised from the 2002 campaign to the present are donations received from hardworking Oklahomans of every background who have supported Mary Fallin. ... Pick any industry and odds are it will have donated the most to Mary Fallin simply because she has been around the longest and run and won more campaigns than her current peers at the Capitol."

House Speaker T.W. Shannon ranks No. 2 in corporate corrections donations, with a combined $35,950 contributed to his campaign committee and a fund that finances the Oklahoma Speaker's Ball.

The three private prison companies donated between $5,000 and $10,000 in late 2012 and early 2013 to the Oklahoma Speaker's Ball, Inc., the committee that finances the annual event.

Up-to-date contributions to the 2014 Speaker's Ball were not available as political action committees have until Jan. 31 to file timely disclosure reports reflecting fourth quarter 2013 transactions.

The 2014 Speaker's Ball is scheduled for Jan. 31 in Norman.

Joe Griffin, Shannon's communications director, said in an email: "A majority of the donation funds from this industry (roughly $22,500) were donated toward a nonprofit to encourage the mentoring of our youth through the Speaker's Ball. ... People and entities donate to campaigns because they believe in the candidate's ideals -- not because the candidate necessarily believes in theirs."

Republican state Sen. Clark Jolley ranks third among active, elected officials in private prison donations, receiving $29,301.

Jolley said Avalon Correctional Services and its CEO are located in his district and have been constituents for some time. The company is concerned about the way private prison companies have been treated during the past several years, especially regarding halfway houses, he said.

"I suspect that a good part is reflected because of that," Jolley said.

Overall, Avalon Correctional Services leads the three corrections companies in political spending, contributing $156,085 to political campaigns and related interests since 2004.

The Geo Group Inc. was close behind, donating $143,411 to political committees.

Lobbyists who represented both Avalon Correctional Services and Corrections Corporation of America at the same time donated $63,450 to political campaigns. CCA employees and lobbyists hired by the Nashville-based company donated another $51,000 to various political causes.

Prison companies have donated $17,500 to state Treasurer Ken Miller's campaigns, $14,500 to Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb and $12,250 to Insurance Commissioner John Doak, all Republicans.

Former gubernatorial candidate Jari Askins led Democratic Party recipients with $11,150 in receipts for her political campaigns. Lobbyists provided about $136,497 in funding with the balance, about $278,000, coming directly from employees of prison companies or their PACs.

Top actively serving recipients of private prison contributions

Gov. Mary Fallin $38,250

House Speaker T.W. Shannon $35,950*

Sen. Clark Jolley $29,301

Treasurer Ken Miller $17,500

Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb $14,500

Insurance Commissioner John Doak $12,250

Sen. Rob Johnson $11,250

Sen. Don Barrington $9,635

Sen. Dan Newberry $8,750

Rep. Todd Thomsen $8,400

*Includes $22,500 to Oklahoma Speaker's Ball, Inc.(Contributions 2004 through Sept. 30, 2013)Source: Tulsa World analysis of state campaign contribution data.

World Capitol Bureau Reporter Barbara Hoberock contributed to this story.

Curtis Killman 918-581-8471

[email protected]
Cary Aspinwall 918-581-8477

[email protected] ___

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