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Archae

(46,301 posts)
Mon Dec 8, 2014, 10:20 PM Dec 2014

I think Bill O'Reilly has really stepped in it this time...

I mean, I have my doubts about these "stats" he mentions.

Even IF, (and that's a big if,) blacks do more "street" crime, whites do far more white-collar crime which is far more damaging.

O'Reilly: Juries Give Police "Benefit Of The Doubt" Because Stats Show Blacks Commit More Crimes

Bill O'Reilly: "The Overt Impression Formed About Young Black Males, Who Act And Speak A Certain Way, Is Negative"

http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/12/08/oreilly-juries-give-police-benefit-of-the-doubt/201801

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I think Bill O'Reilly has really stepped in it this time... (Original Post) Archae Dec 2014 OP
Since when has Billo the Clown has been right? Lugano Dec 2014 #1
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Dec 2014 #2
exactly right Kalidurga Dec 2014 #4
There's the urban/suburban aspect too. It's easier to bust people in cities. arcane1 Dec 2014 #6
He pretty much steps in it every time he is on the air. Kalidurga Dec 2014 #3
Our whole criminal justice system is so racist gollygee Dec 2014 #5

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
2. Lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Mon Dec 8, 2014, 10:27 PM
Dec 2014

When you say 'blacks do more street crimes', what you're actually saying is 'more crimes committed by blacks are reported, more blacks are arrested, more blacks are put on trial'. You're not proving that they 'do more crime', but that whites doing the same thing will often get a blind eye turned to them, so they simply don't make it into the crime statistics. If you don't patrol white neighbourhoods as frequently as black ones, of course you're going to find more 'black' crime. You find what you look for, not what you ignore.

 

arcane1

(38,613 posts)
6. There's the urban/suburban aspect too. It's easier to bust people in cities.
Mon Dec 8, 2014, 10:55 PM
Dec 2014

More outdoor activity, fewer cars, higher population density, etc.

Kalidurga

(14,177 posts)
3. He pretty much steps in it every time he is on the air.
Mon Dec 8, 2014, 10:27 PM
Dec 2014

But, he thinks the crap he stepped in smells like roses. Can't change a person like that, the best you can hope for is to not see him on cable, which I don't.

gollygee

(22,336 posts)
5. Our whole criminal justice system is so racist
Mon Dec 8, 2014, 10:34 PM
Dec 2014

From what we consider to be worth making a crime or not, to what is a misdemeanor vs felony, to what we consider to be a crime worth investigating, to what we consider to be a crime worth prosecution, to whom we assume is more likely to have committed a crime, to whom the police are more likely to investigate, to who is more likely to get drug-sniffing dogs or otherwise have their car searched at routine traffic stops, to who is more likely to actually get arrested, to who is more likely to be pressured to put in a plea deal, to who is more likely to be viewed as a "thug" by a jury and therefore convicted even if it goes to trial, to who is more likely to go to jail, to who is more likely to get a longer sentence . . .

And there's probably lots I missed.

Anyway, the criminal justice system is so inherently racist that any statistics about who commits more crime have to be looked at with a grain of salt.

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