Are young black men responsible for most violent crime?

[VHG]

I see the Press Complaints Commision has censured an online blog for saying "the overwhelming majority of London's violent crime was carried out by young, African-Caribbean men".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8594097.stm

How true (or near to the truth) is that statement?

I notice the huge fight in Victoria station reported the other day (where a boy was stabbed to death) was young black boys (and girls), all I think school children (15 or 16 years old).

And I was horrified to see on Crimewatch last night how a small argument amongst a group of black men late at night so easily decended into a mass brawl where a person was stabbed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...ttenham_assault.shtml

Do the figures back up the claim above?

And if so what do we do about it, before some of our city streets decend into the law of the jungle (if they are not there already)?

[jackthehat]

"Batten down the hatches.........!!!"

[bobjugs12]

This is actually a really annoying question that gets hijacked by both left and right for their own political agendas.

[Quinlad]

The PCC ruling is more concerned with basic standards of journalism than right or wrong. That means if you advance an argument, you need to be able to back it up.

So they're not saying that Rod Liddle's point was necessarily wrong. Just that he failed to substantiate it adequately. It's very shoddy.

[jackthehat]

Have given the question deeper consideration, I would say "yes".................or "no".

I hope this helps you.

[McMouse]

This is not a black and white issue. There has to be shades of grey, or a lighter shade of pale.

[ELVIS68]

No, I`d put them just behind eastern europeans

[rov1200]

We are reaping the rewards of trying to solve our labour shortages in the 1960's where banana boats were used to ferry thousands of West Indians into the country. The thousands have multiplied to millions since then and they live predominantly in South London.

Put the clock forward and we are using the same excuse to allow many from Pakistan and Middle East to take up residence.

Don't politicians have any foresight?

[jno]

'the overwhelming majority of violent crime'? That sounds patently absurd.

53% crimes of violence aginst the person in London are committed by white people, 49% of sexual offences, 65% of burglaries, 67% of criminal damage. This is as you'd expect, given that blacks are a minority even in London.

Blacks do commit a majority of robberies, though (not an overwhelming one, but 58%, which is a lot. However the figures are also skewed by the fact that the black population are younger than average, and young people commit more crimes).

http://www.justice.go...tem-07-08-revised.pdf

- see Table 5.4a

[123everton]

Good grief "banana boats", have I been transported back to the 1970s.
Many of the immigrants in the 50s and 60s had served Britain in the war, if you look at these people what you'll see is very polite, well dressed people who walked upright with their heads held high.
The problem with young men today (of all hues) is that there are no positive role models for them.
Sports stars are great, if you're sporty, musicians are poor because of their lifestyles by and large.
Who do you turn to?
We've got a quasi American social system, this tends to view learning as geeky or nerdy.
For instance, many's the time the question's been asked about Muslim youth and what's going on with them, after years of meaning to, I've finally started to read about Mustapha Kemal Bey (one of my heroes) why aren't people like him, like Martin Luther King, like Ghandhi, like Aneurin Bevan, like Emeline Pankhurst, like Jan Kubis and Jozef Gabcik, like Andrezej Kosciuzsko, like Sir Garnet Wolseley, like Horation Nelson promoted as an ideal for young men, there are so many attributes to be commended in males, violence shouldn't be one of them.
Many of the people I've listed are soldiers, but soldiering isn't all about fighting.
This problem transcends colour and religion (or none) it emphasises the deep rifts in our society and a change in our culture that we've allowed to happen and/or promoted.

[McMouse]

Rivers of blood as St. Enoch said.

[modeller]

National statistics show that 2% of the UK population is black

Prison populalion '' .'' 21% for all crimes is black
Prison population '' '' 73% for all crimes is white

[R1Geezer]

Yes statistically they are. Cue all the apologists digging up examples of white violent crime!

[Gromit]

Just sloppy journalism, and it is good that the PCC are extending their remit to cover on-line journalism.

If I were to write;

"The overwhelming majority of this country vote Labour" would you be happy for that stand as a statement of fact?

[rojash]

Interesting statistic, modeller. But statistics also show a black criminal is more likely to be caught than his white counterpart (simply because the Police tend to target blacks more than whites), and that, once caught, a black man is more likely to receive a custodial sentence than a white one who has committed a similar crime. Therefore the prison population statistics tell us more about racism than they do about crime.

[jake-the-peg]

That is deliberately misleading Modeller

What percentage of the prison population do you think come from wealthy backgrounds compared to the average?

The point is that people do not commit more crimes simply because they a black but because of their background and upbringing.

More black people come from disadvantaged backgrounds

- cue for someone to erroneously move from the general to the specific by trotting out the stupid "My Grandparents were as poor as church mice and never robbed anyone"

(Can we just avoid the dumb irrelevant argument for once please?)

[R1Geezer]

so the stats are correct them jake? you ably offer the excuses why they are correct.