Systemic Racism

The following statistics come from the National Registry of Exonerations in the Newkirk Center for Science and Society at The University of California, Irvine. This information was published on March 7, 2017 by Samuel R. Gross, Senior Editor and Maurice Possley, Senior Researcher.

Executive Summary: African-Americans are only 13% of the American population, but they comprise a majority of the innocent defendants wrongfully convicted of crimes and later exonerated. African-Americans constitute 47% of the 1,900 exonerations listed in the National Registry of Exonerations (as of October 2016), and the great majority of more than 1,800 additional innocent defendants who were framed and convicted of crimes in 15 large-scale police scandals and later cleared in "group exonerations". We see this racial disparity for all major crime categories, but they were more closely examined in this report in the context of the three types of crime that produce the largest numbers of exonerations from within the Registry: Murder, Sexual Assault, and Drug Crimes.

MURDER

  • Judging from exonerations, innocent black people are about seven times more likely to be convicted of murder than innocent white people. A major cause of the high number of black murder exonerations is the high homicide rate in the black community.
  • African-American prisoners who are convicted of murder are about 50% more likely to be innocent than other convicted murderers. Part of that disparity is tied to the race of the victim. African-Americans imprisoned for murder are more likely to be innocent if they were convicted of killing white victims. However, only about 15% of murders by African-Americans involve a white victim, even though 31% of innocent African-American murder exonerees were convicted of killing white people.
  • The convictions that led to murder exonerations with black defendants were 22% more likely to include misconduct by police officers than those with white defendants. In addition, on average black murder exonerees, and those sentenced to death spent four years longer.
SEXUAL ASSAULT

  • Judging from exonerations, a black prisoner serving time for sexual assault is three and a half times more likely to be innocent than a white sexual assault convict. The major cause for this huge racial disparity appears to be the high danger of mistaken eyewitness identification by white victims in violent crimes involving black assailants.
  • Assaults on white women by African-American men comprise a small minority of all sexual assaults in the United States, but they constitute half of sexual assaults with eyewitness misidentifications that lead to exonerations. The unreliability of cross-racial eyewitness identification also appears to have contributed to racial disparities in false convictions for other crimes, but to a lesser extent.
  • African-American sexual assault exonerees received much longer prison sentences than white sexual assault exonerees, and they spent on average almost four and a half years longer in prison before exoneration. It appears that innocent black sexual assault defendants receive harsher sentences than whites if they are convicted, and then face greater resistance to exoneration even in cases in which they are ultimately released.
DRUG CRIMES

  • The best national evidence on drug use shows that African-Americans and whites use illegal drugs at about the same rate. Nonetheless, African-Americans are about five times as likely to go to prison for drug possession as whites and judging from exonerations, innocent black people are about 12 times more likely to be convicted of drug crimes than innocent white people.
  • In general, very few ordinary, low-level drug convictions result in exoneration because the stakes are too low. In Harris County, Texas, however, there have been 133 exonerations in ordinary drug possession cases in the last few years. These are cases in which defendants pled guilty, and were exonerated after routine lab tests showed they were not carrying illegal drugs. Sixty-two percent of the Harris County drug-crime guilty plea exonerees were African-American in a county with only 20% black residents.
  • The main reason for this racial disproportion in convictions of innocent drug defendants is that police enforce drug laws more vigorously against African-Americans than against members of the white majority, despite strong evidence that both groups use drugs at equivalent rates. African-Americans are more frequently stopped, searched, arrested, and convicted - including in cases in which they are later proven to be innocent. The extreme form of this practice is systematic racial profiling in drug-law enforcement.
  • Since 1989, more than 1,800 defendants have been cleared in "group exonerations" that followed 15 large-scale police scandals in which officers systematically framed innocent defendants. The great majority were African-American defendants who were framed for drug crimes that never occurred.

********************

There is overwhelming evidence to support the belief that a black person in the United States is more likely to be falsely convicted of a crime than a white person, and that black people are disproportionately targeted by the police for drug-related law enforcement. To argue otherwise, is to either be ignorant of the statistics, or to be in denial of the facts. If I was to start with examples of systemic racism in the United States, I would start with law enforcement and our system of justice. Whether a conscious racial bias is at work or not... black people do not receive equal protection under the law as white people.


Curious question, and I'm being genuine, not condescending, but if there is disparity in law enforcement toward blacks, why do we also see it from black cop to black citizen. Are cops of color looking to keep a job. Why do they participate in injustice against their own?

I've been stopped for traffic violations, never been in any trouble. I've had most of them be fairly nice. I've had a couple that were annoyingly smart a**. One black, one white. But, I've never had one stop me, get to my car, and say oh you're white, my bad. I've also never been falsely accused of traffic infractions. I was always guilty. But, also wasn't unfairly retained or arrested. It'd be interesting to know if the cops that pulled me over that were immediate pricks were agitated that I was white, thinking/hoping they pulled over a black?

At the same time, I know a family whose word I would trust over anyone anywhere. Including the kids. And I know they have experienced a few things, and I'm confident by what happened it was strictly for color. And he's a preacher to boot.
 
Curious question, and I'm being genuine, not condescending, but if there is disparity in law enforcement toward blacks, why do we also see it from black cop to black citizen. Are cops of color looking to keep a job. Why do they participate in injustice against their own?
Black men are more likely to commit a crime and be a victim of crime. High crime areas attract police. High crime areas are more likely to experience negative interaction. In areas where whites make up most of the lower income population they experience the same things.

At the same time, I know a family whose word I would trust over anyone anywhere. Including the kids. And I know they have experienced a few things, and I'm confident by what happened it was strictly for color. And he's a preacher to boot.
anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. I can remember having negative encounters with police as a youth because I was a skate punk.
 
This is true... but it still shows something very wrong with our police departments.
I don't think anyone's arguing against that. I think we're just saying that it's not a racist thing. It's a poverty thing.

Entitlement programs keep black people generationally poor and living in high crime areas. They also break up the nuclear family, which statistically correlates to poverty, behavioral problems, lack of education and crime. So, they don't just put poor blacks into high crime areas, they create high crime areas. Police cruise these high crime areas because they are high crime areas, and they bust the easy targets that they know they can get convictions on...both criminal blacks and innocent blacks.

It's not because they're black. It's because they are poor, in high crime areas. Crakka, the white rapper in the hood, will suffer just as much, I can pretty much promise you.

If you want to help, reform the entitlement programs to reward intact families, and move people off of entitlements. (But there is no political capital in empowering them. Then you can't as easily buy their votes and convince them that they're victims.) And reform the justice system so that it doesn't steam-roll its victims. (Heck, General Flynn was a millionaire that was ruined by the justice system. What hope doe the middle class have against it, much less the poor?)
 
I don't think anyone's arguing against that. I think we're just saying that it's not a racist thing. It's a poverty thing.

Entitlement programs keep black people generationally poor and living in high crime areas. They also break up the nuclear family, which statistically correlates to poverty, behavioral problems, lack of education and crime. So, they don't just put poor blacks into high crime areas, they create high crime areas. Police cruise these high crime areas because they are high crime areas, and they bust the easy targets that they know they can get convictions on...both criminal blacks and innocent blacks.

It's not because they're black. It's because they are poor, in high crime areas. Crakka, the white rapper in the hood, will suffer just as much, I can pretty much promise you.

If you want to help, reform the entitlement programs to reward intact families, and move people off of entitlements. (But there is no political capital in empowering them. Then you can't as easily buy their votes and convince them that they're victims.) And reform the justice system so that it doesn't steam-roll its victims. (Heck, General Flynn was a millionaire that was ruined by the justice system. What hope doe the middle class have against it, much less the poor?)
Sometimes it is. There is too much of a disparity between the number of black people being falsely accused of crimes and the number of white people being falsely accused of crimes in this country to ignore the racial component.
 
It's pretty amazing.

I have an old, crappy looking, Fred Sanford looking farm truck that is mechanically awesome but looks like ish. It's perfect for hauling the crap (literally, sometimes) I haul for our gardening and stuff.

It's funny. When I drive that thing through poor parts of town, I get pulled over very frequently for BS crap that the police actually lie about to make the stop. (It's illegal to use that right lane to pass someone stopped in the left lane for a turn, because that right lane ends 1/2 mile ahead.) In broad daylight when they can see I'm white. They pull me over, scope out the truck, make conversation, and then let me go.

When I'm in my nicer vehicle, no problems. No stops. I can speed for the most part, change lanes without signalling...

They think I'm poor, I'm a target. They think that I'm not... No problems. A wave and a smile.

They seem to genuinely profile poor people. I experience it to this day. Obviously, they're not profiling my race.
 
Sometimes it is. There is too much of a disparity between the number of black people being falsely accused of crimes and the number of white people being falsely accused of crimes in this country to ignore the racial component.
Bald assertion and emotional ploy. What is the disparity of blacks to whites in inner city slums and high crime areas (public housing and welfare colonies)?

You'd think you'd want to fix that.
 
Bald assertion and emotional ploy. What is the disparity of blacks to whites in inner city slums and high crime areas (public housing and welfare colonies)?

You'd think you'd want to fix that.
No, it's not. I just posted a lengthy study with stats (in post #1,037) which support the argument that a black person in this country is far more likely to be falsely convicted of a crime than a white person... and the disparity is to such an extent, that the racial component can't be ignored.
 
No, it's not. I just posted a lengthy study with stats (in post #1,037) which support the argument that a black person in this country is far more likely to be falsely convicted of a crime than a white person... and the disparity is to such an extent, that the racial component can't be ignored.

Looks like you completely ignore everything in my post past the first sentence. If you'd read on, you'd see that I didn't actually ignore the racial component.
 
Black men are more likely to commit a crime and be a victim of crime. High crime areas attract police. High crime areas are more likely to experience negative interaction. In areas where whites make up most of the lower income population they experience the same things.

anecdotal evidence is anecdotal. I can remember having negative encounters with police as a youth because I was a skate punk.

Wasn't anecdotal evidence. Actual true stories. Know of several with this family. Systemic Racism is not about black, it's about everything that is different from the perceived norm and that that difference will be problematic. Blacks, Crackers, Skate Punks, insert catch phrase.
 
Wasn't anecdotal evidence. Actual true stories. Know of several with this family. Systemic Racism is not about black, it's about everything that is different from the perceived norm and that that difference will be problematic. Blacks, Crackers, Skate Punks, insert catch phrase.

That's not racism.

Wasn't anecdotal evidence. Actual true stories. Know of several with this family. Systemic Racism is not about black, it's about everything that is different from the perceived norm and that that difference will be problematic. Blacks, Crackers, Skate Punks, insert catch phrase.

That's anecdotal evidence.
 
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Wasn't anecdotal evidence. Actual true stories. Know of several with this family. Systemic Racism is not about black, it's about everything that is different from the perceived norm and that that difference will be problematic. Blacks, Crackers, Skate Punks, insert catch phrase.
Uh, anecdotal evidence is true.
 
The world is waking up.

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Given your age, it'd be entirely likely that you grew up in a time where slavery was still common. It's unfortunate that your advanced dementia prevents you from remembering the hardships that surrounded their lives. It saddens me to know that loss of empathy is a symptom that my great, great grandmother could have been afflicted with.

Empathy is a key intellectual/emotional component Trump, his followers and all racists seem to be missing.
 
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