Richard Rosenfeld

Crime and Race
What do crime statistics say about race — and vice-versa? What can we conclude — or not — from the statistics about the race of crime victims and suspects? Ask questions in our live chat with Richard Rosenfeld. He is curators professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri-St.Louis and co-author of “Crime and the American Dream.”
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 12:00 PM CST

Richard Rosenfeld: Hello everyone,

I’m Rick Rosenfeld and will be leading today’s discussion on race and crime. I will begin by addressing some of the questions already posted. Join in at any time.
RHarnack: 1. What is the literacy rate of prisoners? I have heard that some estimates of illiteracy in the prison population is between 75% - 95%.

2. Would remedial education programs bring about a change in recidivism due to increased ability to read and develop job skills?
Richard Rosenfeld: The literacy rate among prisoners is quite low, but in fact the percentage of prisoners with some college has increased over time, along with the growth in educational attainment of the general population. There is evidence that prison vocational and education programs reduce recidivism.
trux: My question is this. Is your discussion going to be an honest attempt to describe the problem of crime with valid statistics or do you plan to pick and choose those that would seem to support your prejudices toward a socio-economic causality for crime? Will you demonstrate the causal relationship between race and violent crime? Will the statistics you present show the contrast of white on black crime and black on white crime? Will you please show the statistics that relate to the number of rapes of white women by black men and white men on black women? Will please answer why 6% of the population (black males) commit the vast majority of violent crime? And lastly, when you are done with your presentation will you entertain alternative reasons for the disparate amount of violent crime by race other than the theoretical notions of socio-economic influence and discuss equally valid presumptions like genetic predisposition to violence.
Richard Rosenfeld: Yes, we should have an honest and open discussion. The vast majority of violent crimes are intra-race — victim and offender of the same race. A partial exception is robbery. 20 years ago, upwards of 40% of white robbery victims (includes Hispanics) were robbed by black offenders. But that figure has been cut in half and now is about 20%. A small percentage of all populations commits roughly half of the crimes. There is some strong research on genetic propensities to violence. The genetic variation does not appear to be correlated with race and interacts with environmental circumstances, such as poverty.

Jbuchanan: Author : Tim (IP: 74.223.52.114 , 74.223.52.114.nw.nuvox.net) E-mail : mrclean1020@charter.net
URL :
Whois : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=74.223.52.114

You know what I would like to know? (This is way off topic from race btw, but what the hell.) Why don’t we have truth in sentencing laws for speeding tickets? If you get a moving violation why can’t it be a rule that you have to get the points put on your license. I think that would go a long way towards slowing people down (assuming of course that such a law could be passed…I don’t know that it is Constitutional as I am not a lawyer).
Richard Rosenfeld: You’d have to solve the problem of local municipalities trading points for fines to supplement their budgets.

skeptic55: The city of St. Louis has posted some rather remarkable decreases in its crime rate in recent years. Are these statistics credible? Have other large cities been able to have this kind of success? Could either the high numbers been too high or the current numbers too low?
Richard Rosenfeld: Like other cities in the nation, St. Louis had a substantial decline in crime during the 1990s that extended into the current century. The decline is well establish.
Glendale: Is this a logical explanation of high crime neighborhoods?…If there are crimes then there are police assigned to the area. Then there are more arrests. More arrests equal more crimes reported which results in higher crime rates published.
Richard Rosenfeld: High crime neighborhoods are identified not by arrests but by offenses reported to the police.
Jbuchanan: From yes we can
From yes we can

I decided to not let the previous poster down.
My question is this, If Black people commit 50+ of the felonies in our country and somewhat higher here locally. Why can’t we as a society do a study on the correlation of criminal behavior when it’s related to the group called African Americans? It’s not politically correct, but I believe they tend to have abnormal behavior more than any other group. Also I would like to see a study of Black on white crimes; they seem according to the justice dept to be increasing. Are they crimes because of white’s makeup 75+ of the population?
Richard Rosenfeld: There is a very large research literature on the connection between race and crime. As I indicated in an answer to a previous question, black on white crime is NOT increasing in the U. S. It has been declining for at least two decades.
GEORGESLADEK: THIS IS AN UNFAIR QUESTION AND THE WRONG QUESTION TO ASK? WHERE ARE WE FAILING THESE PEOPLE AND HOW DO THEY WIND UP ON THE STREET WITH A GUN POINTED AT A POLICE OFFICER? DRUGS, LACK OF EDUCATION OR SKILLS OR PURE UNADULTERATED LAZINESS AND DESIRE TO LIVE OFF OTHER PEOPLE’S HARD WORK? IF YOU THINK I OR ANY OTHER PERSON IN THE ST LOUIS AREA WANTS A POLICE TO SHOOT YOUNG PEOPLE YOU’RE DEAD WRONG…BUT WHEN THE SITUATION ARISES WE NEED TO LET THE POLICE DO WHAT THEY HAVE TO DO FOR THEIR SAFETY AND OURS. STOP HARASSING THE POLICE DEPARTMENT OVER STREET CRIME AND LET THEM GO ABOUT ELIMINATING THE SOURCE OF CRIMES…AND STOP SELLING GUNS TO CRIMINALS…MAKE IT HARDER NOT EASIER TO OBTAIN WEAPONS TO COMMIT CRIMES.
Richard Rosenfeld: I agree with the questioner that no one should be “harassing” the police. They serve a vital function that often goes unappreciated.
tayco2000: what are the accurate numbers on population in relation to race and prison population.my understanding is 70% white or so and 43% prison pop.13% black and 51% prison pop.14% hispanic and 4% prison pop.an dthen the other make up the diff any accuracy.thanks
Richard Rosenfeld: Roughly 40% of the prison population is non-Hispanic white, 40% non-Hispanic black, and 20% Hispanic. Whites are just over 70% of the general population. Blacks and Hispanics make up about 13% each.
W K: Have any cities with a racial divide such as St. Louis been able to successfully integrate? How do you convince people who flocked to the suburbs that the urban core has great neighborhoods when all they see is crime on the nightly news? Lastly, how do you convince urban youth, black and white, that they would be far better off in the long run if they stopped destroying their own neighborhood? Jobs don’t flock to graffiti strewn neighborhoods where cars are getting robbed. I love the dense urban neighborhoods, with all the convenience and energy that the city brings, but convincing my suburban wife to live in Soulard took me years. And it doesn’t have to be like that. How do we break the cycle of crime???
Richard Rosenfeld: These are tough questions, obviously. Americans have been fleeing the cities for a long time and not simply because of racial tensions. High quality schools are an important magnet to draw people to cities, but improving the quality of the schools is as tough as reducing crime. Tougher, actually. Recall that serious violent and property crime dropped in the U. S. by more than 40% during the 1990s. That must be considered good news.
Rev. Carl J. Bell: why is it that whenever a cop encounters an african american male he is automatically viewed as some sort of animal that needs to be tamed?
Richard Rosenfeld: I can’t speak for your personal experience but think the statement is overdrawn. Are black officers as likely as white officers to treat black men unfairly? I think one of the bright spots in policing is the racial integration of the ranks. There’s still a long way to go, but undeniable progress has been made.
Charles Whicks: I have always thought it was economic and education level rather than race that was the best indicator of whether someone would be a criminal. Is that accurate?
Richard Rosenfeld: Economic status is a very important predictor of criminal behavior. Once taken into account, the race difference drops markedly. Education is another story. The nation is much more educated now than a half century ago when crime rates were lower. But obviously a degree is required for getting a good job and decent income.
Charles Whicks: Removing drug crimes from the statistics, is there still a large difference between races in incarceration rates?
Richard Rosenfeld: Yes, a large difference remains for violent crimes such as robbery. But you are correct that much of the growth in incarceration of blacks in recent years stems from the sentencing reforms associated with the war on drugs.
Munchkin: Why is it that when you drive through a mostly black neighborhood you see bars on windows and doors. You don’t see that in a mostly white neighborhood. I live in and work in a neighborhood that at one time was a mostly white neighborhood it is now mostly black. It has gone through some changes none of which I would call good. There are shootings, robberies, purse snatchings at the area grocery store. There are even scams going on to lure older people into letting someone into their homes to rob and beat them. The business’ that are still open, quite a few have left seem to be shortening their hours. The ones still here have security inside and in the parking lots. I never thought I would see the day I would carry a gun but sadly I do as do most my friends. Where I work we have blacks coming in asking for boxes because they are getting out of the area because what is moving in. If they cannot trust each other how are we supposed to trust them. I don’t think our problems are only a race issue it is also a trust issue. So I guess my qustion is If blacks do not trust blacks, how are whites supposed to trust them?
Richard Rosenfeld: We trust individuals not whole categories of people. People don’t trust criminals, whether they are black or white. By the way, in other cities you can see bars on the windows in white neighborhoods, too.
Joseph Andrews: Are there any REAL, HARD, INCONTROVERTIBLE data out there that, in plain English, point to racial differences as far as the perpetrators of violent crimes are concerned?
Richard Rosenfeld: There are strong data showing higher rates of homicide offending among blacks than whites. That difference has declined over the last couple of decades but it still exists. I recommend that you check the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports.
Steve S.: Which is a better indicator of an offender: Race or Environment? Although they typically go hand-in-hand you can find low income “white” neighborhoods with high rates of recidivism.
Richard Rosenfeld: Yes, low-income white n’hoods have elevated levels of crime. By the way, if we were having this conversation back in the 1920s we wouldn’t be discussing “race” and crime. We’d be worrying over why Italians, Poles, or the Irish had higher crime rates than so-called native whites. Things change and they remain the same.
Ramster: Hello Dr. Rosenfeld -

It seems as though poverty…more than race can play a key role in becoming a criminal. It just seems that a large number of criminals in the St. Louis area happen to be black and resdie in poverty-stricken or economically repressed areas. Your thoughts on this?

Thank you for your comments!

Stephen
Richard Rosenfeld: Poverty along with chronic joblessness are the key predictors of why some neighborhoods have higher crime rates than others.
toldyouso: Richard , Do you know the population of afro americans that reside in the city of St Louis and what pecentage of violent crime is committed by afro americans in the city of St Louis.
Richard Rosenfeld: Roughly half of the city’s population is black. The last time I checked, blacks made up over 80% of homicide victims and offenders in the city. Keep in mind that the St. Louis black population is much younger than the white population and violent crime rates are highest among the young.
John: If you really want to take a look at crime and race, it seems to me the most unbiased way to evaluate it would be through 911 calls. Have you every analyzed 911 callers and their concerns? The callers who are calling about assaults versus barking dogs.
Richard Rosenfeld: Yes, I have analyzed 911 calls, in several different studies.

Richard Rosenfeld: Let me throw out a question for general discussion. Why do you think serious crime fell during the 1990s? There is no question that it did but uncertainty remains about the reasons why. Recent research shows that the economic expansion of the 1990s contributed to the crime drop. If true, that has troubling implications for the effects of the current economic crisis. Thoughts?