I am currently reading a book on human development, and some of the information in the book pertains to this discussion.
There is a good point to be considered. Is the discrepancy between whites and blacks with regards to convictions have to do with an unfair justice system or a group of people that commit more crimes? It is a legitamate question, and there is only one way to find out in my opinion.
There is a general trend in cultures around the world. Students who are placed in the lower 30 percentile of socioeconomic class in relative wealth will score lower on cognition tests compared to students in another culture that are in the higher percentile of another culture, even though the overall value of wealth is about the same. This coincides with a study done by the United Nations. As economic inequality increases the overall health of the entire population decreases regardless of class. This is because there is a psychosocial stress with regards to class inequality, and it becomes more intense as the inequality increases. But there is more to it than that. Children in impoverished environments not only have less overall stimulation, but have less interaction with adults for various reasons, like work. Plus, in some cultures there is a trend where caretakers won't even talk to their children for the first two years! This drastically affects the development in language, which interestingly enough allows the brain to develop other talents as well, such as inference and morality. As the child ages, the Corpus Colosseum becomes strengthened, which allows the eventual development of empathy. If there is less schematics, prototypes, etc. in the brain, that means the development of these areas will be altered. With less vocabulary, things maybe looked at a more extreme perception. With a center devoted to empathy and morality less developed, this may explain certain behaviors and thinking that leads to crime.
Finally, when fathers are removed from the equation, it is known in boys especially, there is an increase of the hormone testosterone. This increases aggression. Compound that with parents who lack interaction and are busy with jobs, the child is more destined to be independent and follow their own path. The problem, is that children tend for the most part do what is easiest if they are not instructed properly. With a lack of development of morality and empathy, the easy thing to do would be to steal, kill, sell drugs, etc.. This is just a few of the many explanations that exist on how poverty affects behavior, and I am sure scientists don't know it all. I wish I knew more, because I still have some questions.
The author focuses on the biology of it all, but does not get into the thought process or how the culture affects the development, so far. It is obvious to me, that black culture promotes crime. Just look at rap videos.
One more point. Throughout all the cultures of the world, it is apparent as there is more income inequality, the bottom of the ladder feel there are marginalized from the majority. (Made to be seemed unimportant, less than human) So there are some possibilities to this. Part of crime is to survive, but it also forces the middle to upper class to pay attention to them. It could also be a way to rebel against the very people that have seemingly screwed their immediate as well as ancestors lives.
So how do we find out for sure? Because the evidence is strong that economic inequality breeds this behavior.
It's to decrease the gap of income inequality. I am not going to share my opinions nor thoughts on this matter. But it is the only way I see in proving or disproving these hypotheses.
Matter of perspective. He has yet to bring them up, and he's not going to, so take your pick--are/were/will be. If I'm starting to seem confrontational, sorry about that. I'm tired and trying to have a discussion with rabbit is irritating.
More specifically, does poverty in and of it self lead to these bad outcomes? After WWII, about 40% of the U.S. population lived in "poverty." Yet poor kids were raised by two parents who were married, they were fed, they went to church, the mother read them bedtime stories, etc. Some went on to found companies and achieve great things. We see immigrants who arrive in this country with nothing, and yet within a few years they're founding businesses and their kids become valedictorians. So I tend to believe outcomes are more a function of parental involvement and values than how much money the parents make. I mean, you can have all the early childhood nutrition and Head Start programs you want, but if parental stimulation consists of morning and evening beatings by mom's boyfriend, then I don't think you'll have a pleasant outcome.
So what about considering the notion that there are multiple factors that increase the chances of someones’ life going sideways? People are individuals and everything from family to nutrition and diet, community to biology plays a part in what kind of a person they evolve into. Obviously there is tremendous value in uncovering causes but to what end? To determine if they are deserving of help? Are we trying to figure out who to blame or how to solve the problem?
I personally am beginning to think that one of the first and most impactful things we can do to make an immediate change in these communities is take a look at or who we imprison and why. Particularly with regard to the
“War On Drugs”. Here is some interesting information I found:
• federal prison population continued to rise, with rates of drug and immigration offenders that eclipse those held for violent crimes
o almost half of federal inmates – 48 percent – were in prison for drug crimes
o 11 percent were held for immigration offenses
• Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race
• Among prisoners ages 18 to 19, black males were imprisoned at more than 9 times the rate of white males
• (Systemic Bias) "Importantly, representation of African-Americans in jails and prisons was nearly twice that of both Drug Courts and probation, and was also substantially higher among all arrestees for drug-related offenses. …… systemic differences in plea-bargaining, charging or sentencing practices might be having the practical effect of denying Drug …….Further research is needed to determine whether racial or ethnic minority citizens are being denied the opportunity
• Among African American children, 1.2 million, or about 11 percent, had a parent incarcerated by 2008." –
• (Odds of Incarceration for Marijuana in CA) "Compared to Non-blacks, California’s African-American population are 4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana, 12 times more likely to be imprisoned for a marijuana felony arrest, and 3 times more likely to be imprisoned per marijuana possession arrest. Overall, as Figure 3 illustrates, these disparities accumulate to 10 times’ greater odds of an African-American being imprisoned for marijuana than other racial/ethnic groups
• Human Rights Watch’s analysis of prison admission data for 2003 revealed that relative to population, blacks are 10.1 times more likely than whites to be sent to prison for drug offenses.
• When incarceration rates by State (excluding Federal inmates) are estimated separately by gender, race, and Hispanic origin …black rates 5-1/2 times higher than white rates;
• At the start of the 1990s, the U.S. had more Black men (between the ages of 20 and 29) under the control of the nation's criminal justice system than the total number in college. This and other factors have led some scholars to conclude that, "crime control policies are a major contributor to the disruption of the family, the prevalence of single parent families, and children raised without a father in the ghetto, and the 'inability of people to get the jobs still available.'"
This is particularly interesting when you consider this, when I researched illicit drug use by race consistently there was only a 1 to 2 increase in the African American Community or it was actually lower.
Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks
Study: Whites More Likely to Abuse Drugs Than Blacks | TIME.com
The Buyers - Who Are America's Drug Users? | Drug Wars | FRONTLINE | PBS
Other sources;
Race and Prison | Drug War Facts
Poverty, Incarceration and Violent Crime in the United States
Almost Half Of Federal Prisoners Held For Drug Crimes | ThinkProgress
