Black Crime Sociology

Crime has always been a hot topic in sociology. There are many different reasons for people to commit criminal acts. There is no way to pinpoint the source of crime. I am going to show the relationship between race and crime. More specifically, I will be discussing the higher chances of minorities being involved in the criminal justice system than the majority population, discrimination, racial profiling and the environment criminals live in.

jim crowAlthough Media reports that blacks commit most of the violent crimes, the center that collects and research statistics shows in fact that black on black murder crimes has decreased significantly since the early 90 's and is in fact by great numbers below whites when it comes down to violent crimes being committed. The whole black on black crime is a political strategy, a gimmick and propaganda used by the Illuminati/Bohemian Media elites to control people thoughts using media mind control. Most people, whether White, Black, Asian and Latino all have an idea, a mindset of who a criminal is and usually always the stereotypes of a criminal is associated to Black People. In America, Black people are 30-40% more likely to be exploited by the New World Order Society through a wide range of media outlets;commercials, movies, shows, reality shows, and music internationally. The

In his book “Punishment and Inequality in America” Western discusses the underlying racial disparities that have lead to a mass incarceration in the United States. He states that incarceration rates have increased by a substantial amount. The race and class disparities viewed in impromesment are very large and class disparities have grown by a dramatic amount. In his book he argues that an increase in mass incarceration occured due to a significant increase in crime. The increase in mass incarceration can also be correlated with urban street crime that proliferated as joblessness in inner-city communities increased (Western, 2006). He also states that an increase in incarceration rates may be due to the changes in politics and policy which have intensified criminal punishment even though criminal offending did not increase. Although these are substantial reasons as to why incarceration has increased significantly in the US there are many underlying issues. The incarceration rates amongst young black men have increased the most in the United states, black men are more likely to go to prison than white and Hispanic men (Western, 2006). This may be largely due to factors such as unemployment, family instability, and neighborhood disorder which combine to produce especially high rates of violence among young black men in the United States (Western, 2006). A rise in incarceration rates may also be largely due to to increased drug arrests which represent the racial disparity.

The causes seem to be intertwined being poor, equals lack of education, which equals lack of employment, which equals increased rate of crime which equals impossibility to join criminal justice system. Also, many of these men are incarcerated while all the other non-incarcerated American young men are finishing school, starting careers, earning seniority at work, marrying and having children thus gaining capital. Even when released from prison, these men return back to their communities with a felony record that will pose extreme problems for them. The incarceration leads the released convict into a lower social class even if they were considered lower class Americans prior to their incarceration; they now are lower in social class standing in most instances. This leads to a poor African American community, perhaps as many as 50% of the male population will have been in prison. These incarcerated African American Males, who are in their prime of life,

In order to understand the nature of the statistical disparity, the first aspect that must be examined is necessarily the statistics themselves. Recent data (1998) shows that more than two out of every three arrested persons are white (67.6%) and that African Americans account for only 30% of all arrests. More striking is the data adjusted per capita: African Americans are two and a half times as likely to be arrested as whites, and are even more over-represented in violent crimes, for which they are over three times as likely to be arrested. African Americans are five times as likely to be arrested in cases of robbery or murder (Walker et al., 39).

Another question exists however. Why are Black individuals more likely to commit crime? This can be confusing as to why this occurs. Both Black and white people who grow up in the same society are capable and have the same opportunities, so why is it that black individuals have a higher crime rate. We can figure this out by looking at examples of other first world countries and data seems to show that major causes of crime are traced back to poverty, family conditions, and drugs. The fact is even though many black families are living prosperous successful lives in north America they still lag behind economic status with 35 % of African Americans living in poverty compared to 13% of all Americans. Also 72% of black children are raised by a single

A challenge I think African Americans families face in the 21st century is black on black crime. Just recently in the Brown vs Ferguson case African Americans properties were destroyed, vandalize, and burned after the verdict of officer Wilson not being indicted. I thought instead of the African Americans going against each other they should have showed more respect and honor for each other. The Micheal Brown case was a tragic loss to the black community, especially after the lost of Trayvon Martin having the same verdict. African Americans as a whole could have shown a little more of a positive response to each other. Black on black crime that occurs when the poorest, weakest members of a population turn on each other out of desperation. African Americans come against peers and neighborhoods who are black. African Americans are the number one race in America by a percentage of 49% of crime within each other, followed by American Indians. Today African Americans are about 13 percent of the population and continue to be responsible for an inordinate amount of crime. The black arrest rate for most offenses; include robbery, aggravated assault and property crimes as you seen in recent justice cases such as Brown and Trayvon. Black on black crime has been a part of the American lexicon for years(Bain & Friends, 2000).

When I say crime let me refer that more specifically according to the FBI African Americans committed almost 54 percent of all murders in the United States. What we do not know is that African

Due to the media portraying a negative image of the teenage black community, the black youths may feel they have to conform to what the media says and become criminals- this is known as self- fulfilling prophecy. Adding to this the media showcases their stereotypical view of Asians being criminals which could explain why 9% of the criminals in prison are Asians. Ironically white, middle class men are likely to commit fraud which is known as white- collar crime yet the media never mentions these crimes even though it affects society more than petty teenage crimes as a lot of wealth could be stolen by bankers. This is because the middle/upper class are the bourgeoisie and have power over the media but teenagers don’t have any control over the media.

“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander, 2012). The numbers tell the story better than words can: black people are more likely to go to prison than any other race in the United States, shown by the fact that more than 60% of the prison population is composed of people of color (The Sentencing Project, 2016). These statistics can be traced back to several different cause, including the Era of Jim Crow and the War on Drugs, both of which led to higher policing in minority areas.

While looking at the massive number of people incarcerated in the United States, it is easy to see that a major disparity presents itself when looking at the races of those incarcerated. The numbers are astonishing: “Though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32 percent of the US population, they comprised 56 percent of all incarcerated people in 2015” (“Criminal Justice Fact Sheet”, n.d.). These questions arise: Is our criminal justice system discriminatory? Or, do minorities actually engage in more crime than whites? The statistics are clear:

I would like to see more Black Americans launching anti-gun violence efforts in their own communities. I believe we cannot continue to pretend as if black-on-black crime does not exist and affect communities just as much as other injustices. Many critics may argue “black-on-black” crime diverts from underlying issues such as poverty and police brutality that the national Black Lives Matter Movement draws attention to in public and in the media. However, police brutality and black-on-black crime is two sides of the same gun violence coin. Turning a blind eye to this issue creates a double standard, and I want to fight against gun violence in all forms on the frontlines.

There have been many career criminals, but most of them have been Caucasian, so I decided to see if we had any African male or female career criminals, and despite the myth that there are no black serial killers, there are, but there are very few because, there are not a lot of agencies that keep the statistics of the number of African American serial killers compared with Caucasians. Based on information received from a phone call to Sgt. Thomas from the Augusta, Richmond County Sheriff department he explained to me that the FBI 's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime does not maintain statistics for serial killers, and they do not have any type of national repository that can keep up let alone track the race or number of serial killers throughout the U.S.

Probably the single most influential and certainly the best-known crime theory among all the sociological theories of crime is that of strain theory. Strain theories argue that there are certain socially generated pressures or forces that drive people to commit crimes. More specifically, the classic strain theories argue that people, particularly those of lower class status are pressured into crime when they are prevented from achieving cultural goals like monetary success or middle-class status through legitimate status. Among the classic strain theorists the best known is Robert K. Merton.

Criminology is where criminal justice and Sociology meet and come together. Sociology is a social science where the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society happen. Criminology is also a social science that studies crime and criminal behavior. Sociologists, by studying society and relationships, are able to determine the thoughts and actions of individuals or criminals. Each science can relate to other sciences and Criminology relates to Psychology, Sociology and more. Sociology and Criminology both contribute to society. Every day were faced with new and bigger issues and as Sociologists, it is up to them to understand why and figure out the issues at hand and how to deal with them.