4 ms·

In fact, black people are way, way more likely to be incarcerated, and get harsher prison sentences, than white people. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won

by Cenk 9y ago

In fact, black people are way, way more likely to be incarcerated, and get harsher prison sentences, than white people. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/black-men-sentenced-to-more-time-for-committing-the-exact-same-crime-as-a-white-person-study-finds/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/black... https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/#III.%20The%20Scale%20of%20Disparity https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-just... https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/18/mass-incarceration-black-americans-higher-rates-disparities-report https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/18/mass-incarce... http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/ http://www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/

Houshalter 9y ago
Because they commit more and worse crimes. They are not more likely to be arrested and convicted than a white person. And we know this because of surveys of victims and crime reports that record the race. Like that chart I posted. The only part of the system that shows any possible racial bias at all is sentencing. And it's only 19%, much smaller than claimed elsewhere. It's well within the margin of error in this stuff as well, given they can't possibly control for every relevant factor (e.g. if their crimes actually are 20% worse. In fact I can't see in this study they even controlled for region, and some states have harsher sentencing than others.) It's worth noting that ugly people get sentences twice as long as attractive people (but are also not more likely to be convicted.) That's 10 times the disparity observed for blacks. Judges give much harsher sentences before lunch, when they are hungry. Sentencing is just a shitty system that should be replaced. Some states have tried to replace it with statistical algorithms that predict recidivism. And people like you are the first to protest that.
- psyc 9y ago
  It's a shame you're being downvoted. I fear people get married to their preferred explanations about causes, even when you basically agree about the effects.
  - Houshalter 9y ago
    And my comment has been flagged too. The political censorship on HN is ridiculous.
bruceb 9y ago
both can be true. you can have discrimination and also have people who think every negative outcome is due to racism when it is not. Brietbart/Buzzfeed actively push not looking at actual complex reasons in favor of inflammatory headlines that lead to clicks. For them it is race 100% of the time. If you see this everyday it isn't surprising that people start to believe everything is due to race.

by Cenk 9y ago

Houshalter 9y ago

Because they commit more and worse crimes. They are not more likely to be arrested and convicted than a white person. And we know this because of surveys of victims and crime reports that record the race. Like that chart I posted. The only part of the system that shows any possible racial bias at all is sentencing. And it's only 19%, much smaller than claimed elsewhere. It's well within the margin of error in this stuff as well, given they can't possibly control for every relevant factor (e.g. if their crimes actually are 20% worse. In fact I can't see in this study they even controlled for region, and some states have harsher sentencing than others.) It's worth noting that ugly people get sentences twice as long as attractive people (but are also not more likely to be convicted.) That's 10 times the disparity observed for blacks. Judges give much harsher sentences before lunch, when they are hungry. Sentencing is just a shitty system that should be replaced. Some states have tried to replace it with statistical algorithms that predict recidivism. And people like you are the first to protest that.

psyc 9y ago
It's a shame you're being downvoted. I fear people get married to their preferred explanations about causes, even when you basically agree about the effects.
- Houshalter 9y ago
  And my comment has been flagged too. The political censorship on HN is ridiculous.

bruceb 9y ago

both can be true. you can have discrimination and also have people who think every negative outcome is due to racism when it is not. Brietbart/Buzzfeed actively push not looking at actual complex reasons in favor of inflammatory headlines that lead to clicks. For them it is race 100% of the time. If you see this everyday it isn't surprising that people start to believe everything is due to race.