Real Clear Politics July 22, 2013 Youth Homicide Rates by Race in the U.S. By _Alex B. Berezow_ (http://www.realclearscience.com/authors/?author=Alex+B.+Berezow&id=21487)
The George Zimmerman trial has refocused the national dialogue on race relations in America. Last week, President Barack Obama weighed in, _saying_ (http://www. washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obamas-remarks-on-trayvon-martin-full-transcript/2013/07/19/5e33ebea-f09a-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_story_1. html) , "African American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system... they’re disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence." Is he correct? Yes. A new _study_ (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6227a1.htm?s_cid=mm6227a1_w) released by the CDC provides data on homicide rates among American youth (aged 10-24) by race/ethnicity. (See graph.) Before analyzing this graph, it is worth noting that homicide disproportionately affects American youths. Murder is usually a top 3 leading cause of death in youths, but it is _not in the top 10 for the American population as a whole_ (http://www.realclearscience.com/journal_club/2013/03/01/top_10_causes_of_death_in_the_us_106473.html) . Specifically, the youth homicide rate in 2010 was 7.5 per 100,000, while the _homicide rate for the entire population_ (http://www.realclearscience.com/journal_club/2013/03/01/top_10_causes_of_death_in_the_us_106473.html) was 5.3 per 100,000. There is also a huge disparity in the youth homicide rate (per 100,000) between races in 2010: Blacks: 28.8 Hispanics: 7.9 Whites: 2.1 Thus, the homicide rate among black youths is nearly 400% higher than the overall youth homicide rate; the homicide rate among Hispanic youths is similar to the overall youth homicide rate; and the homicide rate among white youths is 72% lower than the overall youth homicide rate. Indeed, this indicates that homicide disproportionately affects black youths. Additionally, in August 2012, the Wall Street Journal _reported_ (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304830704577496501048197464.html) : Homicide victims usually are killed by people of their own race and ethnicity. The pattern goes back at least a generation. Bureau of Justice Statistics data show that from 1976 to 2005, white victims were killed by white defendants 86% of the time and black victims were killed by blacks 94% of the time. So President Obama was completely correct in indicating that violent crime is a particular problem among black youths in America. ------------------------------------------------------------------ _Source_ (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6227a1.htm?s_cid=mm6227a1_w) : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Homicide Rates Among Persons Aged 10–24 Years — _United States_ (http://realclearworld.com/topic/around_the_world/united_states/?utm_source=rcw&utm_medium=link&utm_campaig n=rcwautolink) , 1981–2010." MMWR 62 (27): 545-548. _Source_ (http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_us.html) : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "WISQARS Fatal Injury Reports." -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
