the US prison population and certain peoples problem with it

[tik 🪀✨]

You do the crime - you pay the time. That simple.

Part of the problem is that "the time" affects society as a whole in perhaps a larger way than it affects the convicted. In your opinion is there an arguably concrete amount of time payable for a given crime? Furthermore, is the cost paid by society for the convicted to survive while incarcerated a worthwhile investment in the long term? What you've stated fits well when etched into a wooden plaque hanging in your father's den. But, when the garage door opens and we enter the real world again, we know it's not that simple at all. Your problem is a reliance on assuming the veracity of talking points that rhyme. I offer you this gem: Commit a victimless crime, be incarcerated for an unreasonable duration. sh**t, sorry, that doesn't rhyme yet. I'll get back to you.

[Adam Griffin]

This is all that really needs to be said.





The uber-vast majority of that discrepancy comes from incarceration of African-Americans (39% of incarcerated population versus 14% of the national population). I look forward to our blue and otherwise backward avatars' responses as to why this is, and there are only two options: either you'll admit that minorities are significantly more prone to criminal behavior, or you'll admit that the justice system at the local, state and federal level is inherently racist.

[memphis]

This is all that really needs to be said.





The uber-vast majority of that discrepancy comes from incarceration of African-Americans (39% of incarcerated population versus 14% of the national population). I look forward to our blue and otherwise backward avatars' responses as to why this is, and there are only two options: either you'll admit that minorities are significantly more prone to criminal behavior, or you'll admit that the justice system at the local, state and federal level is inherently racist.

I'm not a blue avatar, but both of those statements are true. Blacks commit violent crime, in particular, at much higher rates. And they also receive harsher sentences than white defendants under similar circumstances.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The kinds of crimes which receive tougher sentences tend to be committed more by those of the socio-economic backgrounds that Afro-Americans are disproportionately a part of.  You'd need to account for that before trying to reach any sort of conclusions on the effects of racism on crime statistics.

[memphis]

The kinds of crimes which receive tougher sentences tend to be committed more by those of the socio-economic backgrounds that Afro-Americans are disproportionately a part of.  You'd need to account for that before trying to reach any sort of conclusions on the effects of racism on crime statistics.

West Virginia has plenty of poor white people problems, but its murder rate is well below the national average. You just don't see rates of violent crime among poor white people the way you do with poor black people.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The kinds of crimes which receive tougher sentences tend to be committed more by those of the socio-economic backgrounds that Afro-Americans are disproportionately a part of.  You'd need to account for that before trying to reach any sort of conclusions on the effects of racism on crime statistics.

West Virginia has plenty of poor white people problems, but its murder rate is well below the national average. You just don't see rates of violent crime among poor white people the way you do with poor black people.

It's not solely poverty that's a factor, or does West Virgina have some white urban ghettoes I'm not aware of?

[memphis]

The kinds of crimes which receive tougher sentences tend to be committed more by those of the socio-economic backgrounds that Afro-Americans are disproportionately a part of.  You'd need to account for that before trying to reach any sort of conclusions on the effects of racism on crime statistics.

West Virginia has plenty of poor white people problems, but its murder rate is well below the national average. You just don't see rates of violent crime among poor white people the way you do with poor black people.

It's not solely poverty that's a factor, or does West Virgina have some white urban ghettoes I'm not aware of?

Not sure what you're getting at. White working class neighborhoods aren't perfect, but they aren't Boys N tha Hood either.

[tik 🪀✨]

The kinds of crimes which receive tougher sentences tend to be committed more by those of the socio-economic backgrounds that Afro-Americans are disproportionately a part of.  You'd need to account for that before trying to reach any sort of conclusions on the effects of racism on crime statistics.

West Virginia has plenty of poor white people problems, but its murder rate is well below the national average. You just don't see rates of violent crime among poor white people the way you do with poor black people.

The way you offer no explanation for this is unsettling to me. Of course we can all deduce easily why poor blacks are more likely than poor whites to commit and be convicted of these crimes, and it's also a given that it has nothing to do with some innate racial quality. That's what Ernest was saying - one factor in the difference in crime rates between poor blacks and poor whites is environment and living conditions. So.. what gives? I'm not sure what you yourself are trying to get at.

[memphis]

The kinds of crimes which receive tougher sentences tend to be committed more by those of the socio-economic backgrounds that Afro-Americans are disproportionately a part of.  You'd need to account for that before trying to reach any sort of conclusions on the effects of racism on crime statistics.

West Virginia has plenty of poor white people problems, but its murder rate is well below the national average. You just don't see rates of violent crime among poor white people the way you do with poor black people.

The way you offer no explanation for this is unsettling to me. Of course we can all deduce easily why poor blacks are more likely than poor whites to commit and be convicted of these crimes, and it's also a given that it has nothing to do with some innate racial quality. That's what Ernest was saying - one factor in the difference in crime rates between poor blacks and poor whites is environment and living conditions. So.. what gives? I'm not sure what you yourself are trying to get at.

I have no explanation for racial disparities in crime rates because I don't know why they exist. But they are very real. It may make you feel better about yourself, but it does nobody any good to pretend they don't exist or chalk it all up to poverty.