 |
 |
At 09:38 29/06/2007 +0100, Dr Daryl Lloyd wrote: >This quote from Stupid White Men doesn't really say anything about >Martin's original argument (i.e. that murders tend to target members >of their own ethnic group). > >In fact, if we read through it, there are two general conclusions: > >a) anecdotal evidence (and it is only anecdotal - this is a >selection of examples; though I will accept that this does NOT mean >that the general conclusion is correct) suggests that the larger and >more significant crimes have predominantly been perpetrated by >people from a white ethnic background. That is fine in itself >(though as I point out above, this is more anecdotal than >scientific), but it tells us nothing about individually targeted crimes. It appears that David Gordon prefers anecdote to data; the only crimes for which whites are overrepresented are those requiring access to large amounts of money, such as stock fraud (Hacker 1992). >b) That the blame of crime is over-proportionally ascribed to people >from a black ethnic background in comparison to the number of crimes >that they actually commit. Again, this tells us nothing about the >relationship between victim and perpetrator, but rather more about >fear of crime, and in particular the possible racial prejudices >shown by the majority ethnic groups picked up in surveys. Michael Moore counters the facts by proposing the polar opposite. Consider the facts: 1) The politically correct West is careful to avoid portraying blacks in negative roles. 2) In the US, blacks are three times more likely than whites to commit violent crimes (United States Department of Justice, 2005). >This second point takes us back to the criticism of the crime >statistics someone raised earlier in the week - the official >statistics give the ethnic origin of the victim, but not the >criminal. Without this latter piece of information, it becomes very >hard to reconcile the fear of crime (that are committed by separate >ethnic groups) with the actual crimes (that are committed by >separate ethnic groups). It turns out that this data is available: UK: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/s95race05.pdf US: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus0502.pdf Regards Martin References: Hacker, A. 1992. Two Nations. New York: Scribner's. United States Department of Justice, 2005. Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2005 Statistical Tables http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cvus0502.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk. *******************************************************