Racial Disparities in Crime and Victimization

As you look at the actual percentages from the previous exercise, how close were your estimates? Also, how did you come to your conclusions on the percentages? If you’re like the hundreds of students who have taken my race and crime course over the past decade, the answer is typically the media, family, or conventional wisdom. In most instances, these will lead you down the wrong path. It might surprise some of you that Whites have committed most of the crime since the founding of America. Well, if you think about it, this fact makes sense since, except upon their arrival, when Native Americans comprised the largest population in North America, Whites have had the largest share of the US population.

As you can imagine, given the disparities across the various crime categories, the reason why people study race and crime is apparent. These disparities persist as you examine the crime victimization statistics presented in Chapter 2 of Race and Crime.