Te Color 

of 
Crime
Race, Crime,
Crime, and Justice
Justice in America

2016 Revised Edition

By Edwin S. Rubenstein
Rubenstein
New Century
C entury Foundation
 Major Findings

• The evidence suggests that if there is police racial bias in arrests it is negligible. Vic-
Vic-
tim and witness surveys show that police arrest violent criminals in close proportion to the
rates at which criminals of different races commit violent crimes.

• There are dramatic race differences in crime rates. Asians have the lowest rates, fol-
fol -
lowed by whites, and then Hispanics. Blacks have notably high crime rates. This pattern
holds true for virtually all crime categories and for virtually all age groups.

• In 2013, a black was six times more likely than a non-black to commit murder,
murder, and 12
times more likely to murder someone of another race than to be murdered by someone of
another race.

• In 2013, of the approximately 660,000 crimes of interracial violence that involved

blacks and whites, blacks were the perpetrators 85 percent of the time. This meant a black
person was 27 times more likely to attack a white person than vice versa. A Hispanic was
eight times more likely to attack a white person than vice versa.

• In 2014 in New York

York City, a black was 31 times more likely than a white to be ar-
ar-
rested for murder,
murder, and a Hispanic was 12.4 times more likely. For the crime of “shoot-
“shoot-
ing”—dened as ring a bullet that hits someone—a black was 98.4 times more likely than
a white to be
b e arrested, and a Hispanic was 23.6 times more likely.

 • If New York
York City were all white, the murder rate would drop by 91 percent, the rob-
rob-
bery rate by 81 percent, and the shootings rate by 97 percent.

• In an all-white Chicago, murder would decline 90 percent, rape by 81 percent, and

robbery by 90 percent.

• In 2015, a black person was 2.45 times more likely than a white person to be shot and
killed by the
th e police. A Hispanic person was 1.21 times more likely. These gures are well
within what would be expected given race differences in crime rates and likelihood to resist
arrest.

• In 2015, police killings of blacks accounted for approximately 4 percent of homicides

of blacks. Police killings of unarmed  blacks
 blacks accounted for approximately 0.6 percent of ho-
ho -
micides of blacks. The overwhelming majority of black homicide victims (93 percent from
1980 to 2008) were killed by blacks.

• Both violent and non-violent crime has been declining in the United States since a
high in 1993. 2015 saw a disturbing
d isturbing rise in murder in major American cities that some
observers associated with “depolicing” in response to intense media and public scrutiny of
police activity.
 The Color of Crime
2016 
 By Edwin S. Rubenstein, M.A.

T
he past two years have seen unprecedented concern Asians had consistently low crime rates. Hispanics appeared
about racial bias in law enforcement. Deaths of young to be committing violent crime at roughly three times the whit e
 black men at the hands of the police led to serious riot- rate, but this conclusion was tentative because ocial statistics
ing in Ferguson, Missouri, and in Baltimore. These and other often failed to distinguish between whites and Hispanics.
deaths gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement, which The 2005 study also found that blacks were seven times
has carried out hundreds of demonstrations across the country more likely than whites to be in prison and Hispanics were
and even in Canada. It is widely assumed that
t hat the police and the three times more likely. It also concluded that high black ar-
courts are strongly bi- rest and imprisonment
ased—certainly against rates—often cited as
 bl ack s, and
an d pro babl
ba bly
y evidence of a racist
against Hispanics. criminal justice sys-
This problem cannot tem—were explained
 be fully understood by  by the black share of
concentrating on a few oenders.
cases, no matter how There has been a
disturbing they may very important change
rst appear. There were since 2005: Crime is
an estimated 11,300,000 down. This is clearly
arrests *  in the United indicated by the broad-
States in 2013, the over- est measure of crimi-
whelming majority of nality in the United
which were carried out States, which is the
 properly.
 properly. It is only in a annual National Crime
larger context that we Victimization Survey
can draw conclusions (NCVS). In 2013,
about systemic police 90,630 households
 bi as or mi sb eh av io r. and 160,040 people
This larger context is were interviewed for
characterized by two the NCVS about their
fundamental factors. experiences as crime
The rst is that dierent victims—whether
victims—whether re-
racial groups commit  ported to the police or
crime at strikingly dif- not. A 20-year compi-
ferent rates, and have done so for many years. The second is lation of
lation  of the survey’s ndings indicates that both the number
that crime, overall, has declined dramatically over the last 20 and rate of violent victimizations have declined steadily,
steadily, albeit
years. Only after considering these points is it possible to draw unevenly, for at least two decades (see Figure 1).
well-founded conclusions about police bias. Violent crime includes rape or sexual assault, robbery,
In 2005, the New Century Foundation published “The “The Color  simple or aggravated assault, and domestic violence—but not
of Crime,”
Crime,” a study of the relationship between crime, race, and murder.
murder. Total violent victimizations in 2013 (the most recent
ethnicity in the United States. The study was based on pub- year for NCVS data) were about one-third their 1994 level,
lished government statistics and found that blacks were seven which was a record high; the total number declined from 17.1
times more likely to commit murder and eight times more million in 1994 to 6.1 million in 2013.
likely to commit robbery than people of other races, while This drop reects an even steeper decline in the rate of
violent crime (violent crimes per 1,000 people 12 years of age
*Underlined words are hyperlinks. In electronic versions of or older)—from 79.8 in 1994 to 23.2 in 2013.
this report, these links lead to sources. Readers of the printed A second widely cited measure of crime, the FBI’s Uni-
version are invited to refer to www.amren.com/the-color-of- form Crime Reports 
Reports  (UCR), conrms that violent crime is
crime/ to see the electronic versions. in a decades-long decline (see Figure 2). The FBI’s statistics

 New Century Foundation -1- The Color of Crime

 are based on crimes reported to the police, and
therefore do not include all crimes, many of
which are not reported. Also, some local law
enforcement agencies do not submit data for
the UCR. For both these reasons, the number
of violent victimizations recorded by the
UCR—1.16 million in 2013—is a fraction of
that year’s NCVS gure of 6.1 million. The
decline in violent crimes as reported by the
UCR—a 37 percent reduction from 1994 to
2013—is signicantly less than the 64 percent
drop found by the NCVS over the same period.
The reason for this dierence may be that
as the actual number of crimes drops, victims
are more likely to report violence to the police
 because it is less routine.
routine. In 1994, 40.9 percent
of victims told the NCVS that they had led
a police report. In 2013, the gure was 44.3
 percent.
While violent crime is unquestionably down
since the last “Color of Crime” report, the share
of non-white victims is up (see Table
Table 1).
From 2002 to 2013, the number of violent
victimizations suered by whites and blacks
fell by 29.5 percent and 20.4 percent, respec-
tively, and the white share of total violent
Table 1. Violent victimizations by race of victims, 2002 and 2013 victimizations declined from 73.2 percent to
62.6 percent. (In this report, “white,” “black,”
2002 2013 % change and “Asian” always mean “non-Hispanic.”)
Number Over the same period, Hispanic victimiza-
White 5,432,632 3,832,527 -29.5% tions rose by 25.6 percent, while the “Other”
category (mainly Asians) saw a 9.1 percent rise.
Black 1,023,828 815,061 -20.4% Victimization rates for both groups declined— 
Hispanic 808,355 1,015,672 25.6% thought not as rapidly as for whites or blacks.
The rise in victimizations was the result of a
Other (a) 159,736 174,309 9.1%
rapid increase in the numbers of these groups.
Two or more races (b) - 288,854 - From 2002 to 2013, the Hispanic population
  Total 7,424,551 6,126,423 -17.5% age 12 and over, for example, grew 48.6 per-
cent while the corresponding white population
Percent of total grew by only 1.6 percent.
White 73.2% 62.6% -14.5% The “Two or more races” category did not
exist in 2002 for the NCVS,1  and the high
Black 13.8% 13.3% -3.5%
victimization rates for this group probably
Hispanic 10.9% 16.6% 52.3% reect its small sample size: The rate more
Other (a) 2.2% 2.8% 32.2% than doubled from
doubled from 2012 to 2013.
While the black victimization rate exceeded
Two or more races (b) - 4.7% - that of whites and Hispanics in both 2002 and
  Total 100.0% 100.0% 0.0% 2013, the gap between the black and Hispanic
rates narrowed dramatically—from 6.2 victims
Rate per 1,000 people 12 and older
 per 1,000 people (36.1 – 29.9) in 2002 to just
White 32.6 22.2 -31.9% 0.3 (25.1 – 24.8) in 2013. If this trend contin-
Black 36.1 25.1 -30.5% ues, the Hispanic victimization rate will soon
exceed the black rate.
Hispanic 29.9 24.8 -17.1% In 2002, whites were 9 percent more likely
Other (a) (c) 31.0 (c) 26.8 -13.5% to be victims of a crime than Hispanics. By
Two or more races (b) - 90.3 - 2013, these groups had changed places, with
the white victimization rate 10.5 percent lower
  Total 32.1 23.2 -27.7% than the Hispanic rate. This may be due to il-
(a) Includes Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacic Islanders, American Indians, and Alaska Natives. (b) Category did not exist in 2002. (c)
Weighted average of victimiza tion rates for Asian/Native Hawaiian/other Pacic Islander and American Indian/Alaska Nati ve. Data Sources:
 NCVS (victimizations); Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Criminal Victimization,
Victimization, 2013,” Table 9 (2013 victimization rate); “Criminal Victimiza-
tion, 2011,” Table
Table 5 (2002 victi mization rate); Bur eau of Justice Stat istics, “Criminal Victimization, 2013,” Table 5 (victims, 2013 and 200 4).

 New Century Foundation -2- The Color of Crime

 ferent rates, [and] receive very dierent sentences
. . . for the same crime.” This view is
i s echoed by the
media but is not supported by either the t he scholarly
literature or by government statistics.
Police, in particular, are often accused of ra-
cial bias, but is it really plausible that they arrest
 blacks they know are innocent but ignore white
criminals? A 2008 summary of
summary of earlier research
compared the races of oenders as identied
 by victims to the races of perpetrators arrested
 by the police and found that “the odds of arrest
for whites were 22 percent higher for robbery,
13 percent higher for aggravated assault, and 9
 percent higher for simple assault than they were
for blacks, whereas there were no dierences for
forcible rape.”
A 2015 study of
study of American men based on the
 National
 National Longitudi
Longitudinal
nal Study of Adolescent
Adolescent Health
found that controlling for IQ and l ifetime records
of violence completely accounted for racial dif-
ferences in arrest rates.
Fortunately, there is an excellent database that
legal immigration of Hispanics. A disproportionate
disproportionate number of throws light directly on the question of racial bias
such immigrants are young men, who are the group most likely Table 2. Property crime victimizations by race of
to commit crimes, and they may also be vulnerable as victims. head of household, 2002 and 2013
Property crimes such as burglary and motor vehicle theft
also appear to be in long-term decline, falling from an esti- 2002 2013 % change
mated 35.1 million cases in 1993 to 16.8 million in 2013 (see Number
Figure 3).
As with violent crimes, property crime victims are increas- White 13,108,165 10,491,279 -20.0%
ingly non-white (see Table
Table 2). Black 2,534,714 2,447,316 -3.4%
The overall property crime rate has declined since the
Hispanic 2,344,423 2,657,590 13.4%
last “Color of Crime” — from
from 168.2 victimizations per 1,000
households in 2002 to 131.4 per 1,000 in 2013. The number of Other (a) 567,016 1,177,902 107.7%
 property crimes suered by white households
households fell 20 percent Total 18,554,318 16,774,087 -9.6%
from 2002 to 2013, and their share of such crimes dropped
from 70.6 percent to 62.5 percent. Both whites and blacks Percent of total
suered fewer property crimes in 2013 than in 2002. White 70.6% 62.5% -11.5%

Race of Oender Black 13.7% 14.6% 6.8%

It is surprisingly dicult to arrive at a denitive picture Hispanic 12.6% 15.8% 25.4%
of the races of oenders. The National Crime Victimization Other (a) 3.1% 7.0% 129.8%
Survey categorizes crime victims by race and Hispanic ethnic-
ity, but until recently, it did not consider Hispanics a separate   To
Total 100.0% 100.0% 0.0%
oender   category; it usually called them “white” or “other Rate per 1,000 households (b)
race.” Furthermore, beginning in 2009, the year the Obama
administration took oce, the NCVS stopped publishing infor - White 168.1 130.6 -22.3%
mation on race of oender, even though it continued t o gather Black 191.0 161.9 -15.2%
the data. In 2015, the Department of Justice nally released a
Hispanic 185.3 139.4 -24.7%
 partial set of oender-race information (see page 13 below).
The Uniform Crime Reports program, which is the basis Other (a) 88.7 89.6 1.0%
of the FBI’s national tabulation of arrests, includes Hispan- Total 168.2 131.4 -21.9%
ics in the
t he “white” category. Arrest and incarceration rates by
race — to
to the extent they are even available — must
must often serve  Note: Property crimes include household burglary
burglary, theft,
theft,
and motor vehicle theft.
as imperfect indicators of actual oense rates by race.
a. Includes households headed by Asians, Native Ha-
As we will see in greater detail below, blacks are arrested at waiians, Pacic Islanders and, in 2013, persons of two or
much higher rates than any other racial group. 2 It is common more races.
to argue that these high rates are the result of racial bias, and  b. Assumes the average household of each group con-
that bias continues through every stage of criminal processing: tains the same number of persons age 12 and older.
indictment, plea bargain, trial, sentencing, parole, etc. In 2008, Data sources: National Crime Victimization Survey,
then-senator Barack Obama asserted
Obama asserted that blacks and whites (number); Bureau of Justice Statisti cs, “Criminal Victim-
“are arrested at very dierent rates, are convicted at very dif - ization, 2013,” Appendix Table 1.

 New Century Foundation -3- The Color of Crime

in arrests: the  Nationa
 Nationall Incident
Incident-Based
-Based Reporti
Reporting
ng System and gambling. Interestingly, these are crimes for which there
(NIBRS). In 2013, 6,328 law enforcement agencies covering may be no witnesses—such as embezzlement or stolen prop-
approximately 29 percent of the US population reported crime erty—or are “victimless” crimes, such as drug oenses and
to the FBI using NIBRS categories, which include races of gambling. The racial identication of suspects in these cases
reported oenders as well as races of persons arrested. It is may not be reliable.
reasonable to assume that both the racial mix of this massive In crimes that involve direct contact with victims and in
sample and the behavior of police ocers are representative which race of oender can therefore be clearly identied, black
of the entire United States. arrest rates are below reported oender rates. For example,
Unfortunately,
Unfortunately, NIBRS does not distinguish between whites  blacks were identied as 73 percent of robbery oenders
oenders but

and Hispanics, which means blacks are the only racial group accounted for only 59 percent of robbery arrests.
for which we have consistent information. However, blacks When crimes from all categories are aggregated, black of-
are the group most frequently said to be victims of police bias, fenders were 14 percent less likely than non-blacks oenders
so if the police treat them fairly it is probably safe to conclude to be arrested. This suggests that police do not show anti-black
they treat other groups fairly.  bias, but make arrests that closely match the proportions at
Figure 4 compares the percentages of criminals that victims which people of dierent races commit crime.
say were black to the percentages of arrested suspects who  NIBRS data come disproportionately from smaller police
were black. If police are arresting a larger proportion of blacks departments. In 2013, only 10 percent of the population
than the proportion of criminals victims say were black, it covered by the system lived in cities of 250,000 and greater.
would be evidence of bias. What do arrest statistics show for large metropolitan areas?
For most crimes, blacks make up a larger  percentage
  percentage of  New York City, for example, does not participate
participate in NIBRS
reported oenders than they do of those arrested. In only  but it records
records the
 the races of arrested oenders, and consistently
seven of the 22 NIBRS crime categories did blacks account distinguishes between whites and Hispanics. In 2014, 374
for a larger share of arrests: homicides, counterfeiting/forgery,  people were arrested for murder. Their races were as follows:
embezzlement, fraud, stolen property oenses, drug oenses, White: 2.9 percent

 New Century Foundation -4- The Color of Crime

 Black: 61.8 percent Like New York, Chicago keeps detailed annual statistics on
statistics on
Hispanic: 31.8 percent major crimes. Until 2010, it published the race of oenders,
Asian: 2.7 percent  but after the election of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, it stopped
Other: 0.8 percent releasing that information. The 2010 report (page
report (page 35) shows
Police take murder very seriously and investigat e all cases that, like New York City, there are stark racial dierences.
carefully. Press and judicial system scrutiny are high. Arrest Arrests for murder were as follows: whites—8, blacks—190,
rates for murder therefore track actual crime rates more closely Hispanics—48, Asians—1.
than for any other crime. Murder is probably the crime for The racial mix of Chicago’s
Chicago’s population in 2010, as reported
which it would be most dicult for police to make “biased” on page 25 of the police department report (whites—31.7
arrests even if they wanted.  percent,
 perce nt, blacks—32
blac ks—32.4 .4 percent,
perce nt, Hispanic
Hisp anics—28
s—28.9.9 percent,
perce nt,
Given a populati
a population
on (page
 (page B1 of report) that was 32.8 percent Asians—5.4 percent)
percent) meant that a Chicago black was 24 times
white, 22.6 percent black, 28.9 percent Hispanic, and 13.0 more likely than a Chicago white to be arrested for murder,
 percent Asian, a black was 31 times more likely than a white and a Hispanic was 6.7 times more likely.
to be arrested for murder, a Hispanic was 12.4 times more Table 3 shows the multiples for the white arrest rates for
likely than a white, and an Asian was twice as likely. These a variety of crimes. Sharp racial dierences appear not only
multiples and those for other crimes appear as graphs on the for crimes of violence but also for property crimes, such as
next page. A “shooting” is discharge of a rearm in which a  burglary and auto theft. The Chicago data t the national pat-pat-
 bullet strikes a person. tern: Blacks have, by far, the highest arrest rates, followed by
There is another way to express these disparities. If New Hispanics. Asians have the lowest arrest rates.
York City had been all white in 2014—and the additional If the same calculation is done as with New York City to
whites committed crimes at the same rates as the city’s actual arrive at crime rates in a theoretical all-white Chicago, murder
white residents—there would have been 32 murder arrests would decline by 90.2 percent, rape by 80.8 percent, and rob-
instead of 374, 1,844 robbery arrests instead of 10,163, and
16 arrests for shootings rather than 503. These gures would Table 3. Multiples
Multipl es of the White Arrest Rate
reect reductions in these crimes of no less than 91, 81, and Chicago, 2010
97 percent, respectively.
respectively. Black Hispanic Asian
There are race dierences in crime rates throughout the
United States, but the dierences
dierences are particularly sharp in New Murder 23.8 6.7 0.75
York and other major cit ies. This is probably because whites whit es Robbery 27.3 3.9 0.69
who live in urban centers are often relatively wealthy whereas Sexual Assault 10.4 4.9 0.23
 blacks and Hispanics who live in cities are relatively poor.
In the graphs on the following page, the most serious of- Aggravated Assault 10.3 3.5 0.72
fenses are displayed above, with the less serious oenses Burglary 10.8 3.1 0.24
 below
 belo w (except
(excep t for rearms
rear ms violatio
viol ations,
ns, which
whic h are serious
serio us
Larceny 4.9 1.2 0.50
crimes). Where possible, the graphs are arranged to depict
the less serious version of the same crime directly below the Auto Theft 19.9 4.5 0.77
more serious version. Misdemeanor sex crimes, for example,  Narcotics 11.5 2.5 0.38
do not rise to the level of rape, and include forcible touching
and sexual misconduct. Grand larceny is theft of anything with  bery by 90.2 percent.
a value greater than $1,000 and includes auto theft, while petty Chicago police also collected information on the sex of ar-
larceny is theft of anything less valuable. Felonious assault rested criminals. Most people understand that men are more
includes attack with a deadly weapon, whereas misdemeanor violent and dangerous than women, and this is reected in
assault includes pushing and spitting. Misdemeanor criminal the city’s arrest statistics. In 2010, men were 12.8 times more
mischief includes such crimes as cemetery desecration and likely than women to be arrested for murder and 19.4 times
calling in false re alarms. more likely to be arrested for robbery,
robbery, compared to the black/
Almost without exception, the black/white and Hispanic/ white multiples for these crimes of 23.8 and 27.3, respectively.
white arrest multiples are lower  for   for the less serious crimes. This means that although men in Chicago are more dangerous
Whatever else this dierence may mean, it is strong evidence than women, by comparison, blacks are even more dangerous
that the police are not  making
 making biased arrests. Police have broad when compared to whites.
whit es. Similar calculations for New YorkYork
discretion as to whether they wil l arrest someone for forcible City are not possible because the NYPD does not release ar-
touching, shoplifting, or setting o a false re alarm. rests by sex.
If racist police wanted to vent prejudices on non-whites, Other American cities release crime statistics but not always
these are the crimes for which they could most easily do so. for the same categories. Milwaukee
Milwaukee records
 records races of suspects
They can walk away if someone complains he was spat on, in both homicides and “non-fatal shootings.”
shooti ngs.” In 2014 (the most
and if they are racist they can walk away if the spitter is white recent year available), blacks were 12 times more likely to be
 but make an arrest if the spitter is black. Police cannot walk murder suspects than whites, and Hispanics were four times
away if someone is lying on the sidewalk bleeding
bleedi ng from a knife more likely. For non-fatal shootings, blacks were 25 times
wound. They must try to make an arrest, whatever the race more likely than whites to be suspects, and Hispanics were
of the suspect. The graphs that show the lowest   non-white/ 7.6 times more likely.
white arrest multiples are for crimes in which police have the Pittsburgh releases
Pittsburgh  releases arrest statistics, which follow the same
 greatest  arrest
 greatest   arrest discretion and are therefore strong evidence that  pattern. In 2012 (the most recent year available), blacks
blacks were
 New York
York City police are not biased in their arrest patterns. 26.6 times more likely than whites to be arrested for murder.

 New Century Foundation -5- The Color of Crime

 New Century Foundation -6- The Color of Crime
 of white rate”). Still, in
Table 4. Felony arrests by oense and race in California, 2002 and 2013 2013, California blacks
All Violent Crimes All Property Crimes were 5.35 times more
likely than whites to
2002 20 1 3 % chg. 2002 2 01 3 % chg.
 be arrested
arre sted for violent
vio lent
Number Number crimes, and 4.24 times
White 40,309 30,415 -24.5% 47,728 36,672 -23.2% more likely to be arrested
for property crimes. The
Black 29,230 23,683 -19.0% 29,693 22,660 -23.7% corresponding figures
Hispanic 54,016 42,635 -21.1% 50,935 41,304 -18.9% for Hispanics were 1.42
Other 8,504 6,380 -25.0% 9,786 6,359 -35.0% and 1.14.
“Others,” who are
Total 132,059 103,113 -21.9% 138,142 106,995 -22.5% mostly Asians, appear
Percent of total Percent of total to be a model group. Vi-
White 30.5% 29.5% -3.4% 34.5% 34.3% -0.8% olent-crime arrest rates
are less than half those
Black 22.1% 23.0% 3.8% 21.5% 21.2% -1.5% for whites, and property
Hispanic 40.9% 41.3% 1.1% 36.9% 38.6% 4.7% crime arrest rates are 60
 percent lower.3
Other 6.4% 6.2% -3.9% 7.1% 5.9% -16.1%
The “Total” figure
Total 100.0% 100.0% 0.0% 100.0% 100.0% 0.0% indicates the multiple
Arre
Arrest st rate
rate (per
(per 100,0
100,00000 pers
personons)
s) Arre
Arrest
st rate
rate (per
(per 100,
100,00000
0 per
persosons
ns)) of the white arrest rate
for the total population.
White 2 56 20 4 -20.1% 30 3 246 -18.6%
Black and Hispanic ar-
Black 1,392 1,093 -21.5% 1,414 1,046 -26.1% rest rates raise the mul-
Hispanic 45 3 290 -36.1% 428 281 -34.4% tiple while arrest rates for
“Others” lower it.
Other 180 97 -46.1% 208 97 -53.3% While black and His-
Total 383 269 -29.8% 401 2 79 -30.3%  panic
 pani c arrest
arres t rates have
Multiple of white rate Multiple of white rate declined relative to white
rates, very high black
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% 1.00 1.00 0.0% arrest rates are still the
Black 5.44 5.35 -1.7% 4.67 4.24 -10.0% rule for most crimes (see
Hispanic 1.77 1.42 -20.0% 1.41 1.14 -24.0% Table 5, next page). In
2013, the black arrest
Other 0.71 0.48 -32.6% 0.69 0.39 -74.3% rate multiple (compared
Total 1.50 1.32 -12.1% 1.32 1.13 -16.8% to whites) ranged from
a low of 1.56 for “dan-
Data sources: CA Dept. of Justice, “Crime in California,” 2002 and 2013, Table 31 (arrests);
gerous drugs” oenses
American Community Survey 2013 (2013 population); CA Dept. of Finance, CA Current Pop.
to a high of 13.39
13.39 for
Survey Report: March 2002 Data.
robbery. Black arrest rate
The multiples for robbery, rape, and aggravated assault were multiples rose for burglary, forgery, kidnaping, arson, and,
9.8, 7.5, and 5.6, respectively. The Hispanic population was especially, dangerous drugs, for which the black multiple more
so small (2.7 percent) that comparisons were not meaningful. than doubled since 2002. Dangerous drugs are methamphet-
St. Louis,
Louis, Missouri, keeps track of homicide suspects by amine, phencyclidine, and barbiturates. The sharp increase,
race (page 41 of report). In 2013, 96 were black, one was white, matched with a very sharp decline in arrests for “narcotics,”
one was Hispanic, and one was Asian. Murder victims are not  probably reects a shift
shift in “War
“War on Drugs” enforcement
enforcement policy
a cross section of the population. In 2013, 82.5 percent had a towards these drugs rather than marijuana.
criminal record (page 40 of report). California Hispanics, on the other hand, were less likely
A larger geographical territory,
territory, such as California,
C alifornia, gives a than whites to be arrested for drug oenses, narcotics, and
 broader picture of racial dierences
dierences in arrest rates, and one in arson. At the other extreme, Hispanics were 2.50 times more
which racial disparities are not nearly so stark. California is likely to be arrested for homicide; for forcible rape, the gure is
one of the few states that treat whites, blacks, and Hispanics 2.25. Hispanics are now the single largest group in
group in California.
separately,
separately, so there can be no confusion about how m any His- In 2014, there were 14.92 million whites and 14.99 million
 panics are
are being counted as as whites. The NIBRS data, together Hispanics in the state.
with academic studies of policing that nd lit tle racial bias in On average, Hispanics are younger than whites and blacks.
arrests, suggest that arrest gures are probably realistic indices This means there are relatively more Hispanics in the peak
of the dierent rates at which people of dierent races commit -crime ages of 18 to 29. Some analysts
analysts have
 have argued that when
crime (see Table 4). age distribution is taken into account, Hispanics are no more
 Consistent with national data, arrest rates of blacks, Hispan- likely than whites to commit violent crimes.4
ics, and “others” have all declined relative to that of whites It is not possible to t est this theory with national arrest data
over the past decade (see the last gures in the table: “Multiple  because not all jurisdictions distinguish between Hispanics

 New Century Foundation -7- The Color of Crime

 Table 5. Multiples of white felony arrest rate in California, 2002 and 2013

Homicide 2002 2013 % change Car theft 2002 2013 % change

White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 9.78 8.58 -12.3% Black 5.90 3.82 -35.2%
Hispanic 3.40 2.50 -26.5% Hispanic 1.98 1.50 -24.4%
Other 1.56 0.65 -58.1% Other 0.75 0.39 -47.9%
Total 2.44 1.95 -20.3% Total 1.60 1.25 -22.2%
Forcible rape 2002 2013 % change Forgery 2002 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 7.58 6.36 -16.1% Black 5.03 5.40 7.5%
Hispanic 2.68 2.25 -16.1% Hispanic 1.32 1.18 -10.3%
Other 0.90 0.56 -37.6% Other 0.70 0.57 -18.7%
Total 1.97 1.71 -13.2% Total 1.31 1.25 -5.2%
Robbery 2002 2013 % change Arson 2002 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 15.88 13.39 -15.7% Black 2.05 2.24 9.2%
Hispanic 2.71 1.96 -27.8% Hispanic 0.80 0.74 -6.4%
Other 0.86 0.46 -46.8% Other 0.53 0.27 -48.5%
Total 2.48 1.98 -20.3% Total 0.93 0.85 -8.7%
Assault 2002 2013 % change Drug oenses 2002 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 4.44 4.32 -2.7% Black 4.47 2.32 -48.1%
Hispanic 1.65 1.32 -19.7% Hispanic 1.23 0.97 -21.2%
Other 0.68 0.47 -30.0% Other 0.37 0.29 -21.3%
Total 1.39 1.22 -12.1% Total 1.20 0.94 -21.8%
Kidnapping 2002 2013 % change Narcotics 2002 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 6.73 6.95 3.2% Black 17.11 3.56 -79.2%
Hispanic 2.84 1.94 -31.6% Hispanic 2.11 0.69 -67.4%
Other 0.97 0.60 -38.3% Other 0.49 0.22 -54.5%
Total 1.98 1.63 -17.7% Total 2.29 0.89 -61.1%
Burglary 2002 2013 % change Dangerous drugs 2002 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 4.40 4.66 5.9% Black 0.75 1.56 107.5%
Hispanic 1.40 1.11 -20.8% Hispanic 1.02 1.07 4.4%
Other 0.68 0.38 -44.1% Other 0.33 0.28 -17.1%
Total 1.30 1.14 -12.2% Total 0.90 0.93 3.5%
Theft 2002 2013 % change Driving oenses 2002 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 4.40 3.74 -15.0% Black 1.75 1.73 -1.0%
Hispanic 1.22 1.07 -12.8% Hispanic 1.63 1.29 -20.8%
Other 0.66 0.39 -41.6% Other 0.56 0.47 -15.7%
Total 1.24 1.08 -13.1% Total 1.20 1.06 -11.6%

Data sources: CA Dept. of Justice, “Crime in California,” 2002 and 2013, Table 31 (arrests); American
Community Survey 2013 (2013 population); CA Dept. of Finance, CA Current Pop. Survey Report: March
2002 Data (population).
Community Survey 2013 (2013 population); CA Dept. of Finance, CA Current Population Survey Report:
March 2002 Data (2002 population).

 New Century Foundation -8- The Color of Crime

 Table 6. Multiples of white felony arrest rate by race, ethnicity,
ethnicity, and age in California, 2013
All violent oenses 
oenses   Kidnapping
White Hispanic Black Other White Hispanic Black Other  
All ages 1.000 1.431 5.270 0.500 All ages 1.000 1.962 6.846 0.627
10 to 17 1.000 1.612 9.430 0.510 10 to 17 1.000 1.421 4.144 0.773
18 to 29 1.000 1.417 5.066 0.460 18 to 29 1.000 1.977 6.604 0.648
30 to 39 1.000 1.159 3.996 0.454 30 to 39 1.000 1.479 6.151 0.525
40 to 69 1.000 1.039 4.168 0.470 40 to 69 1.000 1.454 5.598 0.486
70+ 1.000 1.145 3.112 1.093 70+ 1.000 3.404 12.061 0.000
Homicide Weapons oenses
White Hispanic Black Other White Hispanic Black Other  
All ages 1.000 2.523 8.460 0.687 All ages 1.000 1.878 5.516 0.417
10 to 17 1.000 8.178 18.374 2.524* 10 to 17 1.000 2.242 4.747 0.567
18 to 29 1.000 2.685 10.089 0.700 18 - 29 1.000 1.796 5.698 0.432
30 to 39 1.000 1.871 5.525 0.523 30 - 39 1.000 1.157 4.149 0.310
40 to 69 1.000 1.207 5.171 0.557 40 - 69 1.000 0.986 3.783 0.270
70+ 1.000 0.425 1.508 0.486 70+ 1.000 0.400 4.966 0.458
Forcible rape Driving under the inuence
White Hispanic Black Other White Hispanic Black Other  
All ages 1.000 2.271 6.266 0.588 All ages 1.000 1.244 1.659 0.467
1 0 t o 17 1.000 1.105 4.168 0.311 10 to 17 1.000 0.680 0.372 0.000
1 8 t o 29 1.000 2.032 5.653 0.605 18-29 1.000 1.156 1.072 0.528
3 0 t o 39 1.000 2.187 5.167 0.504 30-39 1.000 1.054 1.588 0.405
4 0 t o 69 1.000 2.244 6.567 0.554 40-69 1.000 1.212 2.148 0.344
70+ 1.000 0.000 0.000 1.945 70+ 1.000 1.418 4.020 1.621
Robbery Property oenses
White Hispanic Black Other White Hispanic Black Other  
All ages 1.000 1.978 13.197 0.483 All ages 1.000 1.149 4.182 0.413
1 0 t o 17 1.000 2.980 29.807 0.981 10 to 17 1.000 1.416 6.118 0.462
1 8 t o 29 1.000 1.579 10.356 0.421 18 to 29 1.000 0.957 3.431 0.357
3 0 t o 39 1.000 1.065 6.953 0.308 30 to 39 1.000 0.827 2.982 0.353
4 0 t o 69 1.000 1.181 9.034 0.334 40 to 69 1.000 0.904 4.022 0.398
70+ 1.000 2.431 1.723 0.000 70+ 1.000 1.243 5.169 0.803
Assault Burglary
White Hispanic Black Other White Hispanic Black Other  
All ages 1.000 1.335 4.257 0.497 All ages 1.000 1.120 4.596 0.401
1 0 t o 17 1.000 1.293 5.049 0.398 10 to 17 1.000 1.440 6.820 0.496
1 8 t o 29 1.000 1.354 4.026 0.459 18 to 29 1.000 0.869 3.745 0.335
3 0 t o 39 1.000 1.145 3.621 0.467 30 to 39 1.000 0.751 3.096 0.330
4 0 t o 69 1.000 1.008 3.783 0.477 40 to 69 1.000 0.862 3.973 0.384
70+ 1.000 1.140 3.183 1.145 70+ 1.000 1.702 3.837 1.414
Motor vehicle theft Theft
White Hispanic Black Other White Hispanic Black Other  
All ages 1.000 1.486 3.762 0.409 All ages 1.000 1.077 3.683 0.405
1 0 t o 17 1.000 1.923 4.987 0.447 10 to 17 1.000 1.359 6.196 0.451
18-29 1.000 1.347 2.949 0.355 18 to 29 1.000 0.937 2.884 0.371
30-39 1.000 0.930 2.836 0.355 30 to 39 1.000 0.850 2.684 0.347
4 0 t o 60 1.000 0.940 4.027 0.363 40 to 69 1.000 0.912 4.069 0.386
70+ 1.000 0.851 3.015 1.945 70+ 1.000 0.972 7.322 0.417
Data sources: California Dept. of Justice, “Crime in California,” 2013, Table 33 ( arrests
arrests by oense, age, race, and ethnicity); California Dept. of
Finance, Demographic Research Unit, Report P-3, December 14, 2014 (population by age).
*Very low numbers, which may not be representative: 5 whites, 7 others.

 New Century Foundation -9- The Color of Crime

 and whites. However, California distinguishes consistently indicator of the racial distribution of criminal activity. Of
 between whites and Hispanics,
Hispanics, and also includes arrest rates by course, for incarceration rates to be a valid measure of crime
age group. Table 6 on page 9, which is probably representative rates, the criminal justice system must be free of systematic
of the entire country,
country, deserves careful study.  bias at every stage—from indictment to the decision to grant
Hispanics of every age group are more likely than whites  parole.
to be arrested for every type of violent crime. For the highest- There have been many investigations of bias in the justice
crime age group of 18 to 29, this is particularly noticeable system, and a summary of the literature is beyond the scope
for homicide (2.7 times the white rate), rape (2 times) and of this report. However, a typical 2009 academic study
study of
 of the
kidnapping (2 times).  process up through sentencing concludes that:
Though the sample size is small, Hispanic teenagers (ages
[U]sing arrests as a marker of violent oending, the
10 to 17) were 8.2 times more likely than whites of the same
overrepresentation of blacks among oenders admitted to
age group to be arrested for homicide: In 2013, 74 Hispanic
state prisons occurs because they commit a disproportion-
and ve white teenagers were arrested for this crime. (There
ate number of frequently imprisoned (i.e., violent) crimes.
are more than twice as many Hispanics as whites in this age
range, which brings down the multiple.) Gang violence is One simple test for bias is to see whether incarceration
 probably a cause. rates by race generally correspond to arrest rates. Earlier, we
Assaults are the most common violent crime, and accounted noted that if the racial distribution of arrests matches the racial
for 80 percent of all arrests for violent crimes in California distribution of oenders identied by victims or witnesses, we
in 2013. Hispanics of every age group are arrested for assault can conclude that there is little or no systematic police bias. A
at higher rates than whites, for an overall multiple of 1.34. comparison between arrest and incarceration rates should be a
Blacks, however, are arrested at sharply higher multiples similar test for justice system bias. Incarceration rates consis-
than both whites and Hispanics. Robbery is a perennial stand- tently higher than arrest rates could suggest post-arrest bias,
out in this respect, with multiples as high as 29.8 in the 10 to 17 whereas incarceration consistently lower than arrest rates could
age group. There was only one age group, for only one crime, suggest unjustied arrests that lead to release or acquittal.
for which blacks were arrested at a lower rate than whites: Figure 7 compares the percentage of arrests of blacks (aver-
drunk driving in the 10 tot o 17 age range. Again, this is a crime age percentages from 2009 to 2013) to incarcerations of blacks.
for which police have almost complete discretion when decid- Total incarcerations are slightly higher than total arrests for
ing to make an arrest, so there would be a high black/white some crimes, but for others they are lower. We cannot rule
multiple if ocers were intent
int ent on targeting blacks unfairly. out justice system bias. However, the general concordance
Blacks are the main cause of urban crime. As Hispanics  between arrest and incarceration rates
rates suggests an absence of
displace blacks in
blacks in America’s largest cities and in its largest serious or systematic racial bias. Statistics that fail to distin-
state, crime rates should remain stable or decline because guish between whites and Hispanics at the ti me of arrest mean
Hispanics are displacing the group with the highest crime rates. it is not possible to make a similar comparison for Hispanics.
To return to Table
Table 5, it is notable that t he “Other” category The decline in arrests noted above is beginning to be re-
of oenders—which is composed largely of Asians—has the ected in incarceration gures. Department of Justice data
lowest arrest rates across the board. This is consistent not show that the total incarcerated population peaked in 2008,
only with earlier ver-
sions of “The Color
of Crime” but with
virtually every study
conducted on Ameri-
can crime rates. As
the number of Asians
in a jurisdiction rises,
crime rates can be
expected to fall.

Incarceration
The criminal jus-
tice system begins
with arrest, and con-
tinues through incar-
ceration and release.
Federal and state
incarceration statis-
tics are consistent,
reliable, and distin-
guish between whites,
 blacks,
 blacks, Hispanic
Hispanics,
s, and
 people of other races.
They are therefore the
 best single nationwide
nationwide

 New Century Foundation - 10 - The Color of Crime

 56.4 percent drop in the multiple for drug of-
fenses, 49.6 percent for manslaughter, 80.4
 percent for larceny,
larceny, etc. Hispanic multiples are
generally down as well, though the multiple for
rape was up 40 percent.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the surging
incarceration multiples for “Other,” a group
comprised of Asians, American Indians, Pacic
Islanders, and persons of two or more races.
This was probably caused by a change in pris-
oner categorization. American Indians, whose
incarceration rates are second only to those of
 blacks, were treated as a separate category in
2001. Including them in the “Other” category
in 2013 undoubtedly pushed up the apparent
rates for Asians.
Table 9 on page 13 shows that despite the his-
toric decline in crime, the number of prisoners
incarcerated for murder has increased 4 percent
since 2001, and that Hi
Hispanics
spanics accounted for all
of the increase. The number of Hispanics incar-
cerated for murder rose by about 40 percent,
while the number of non-Hispanics fell by 3.2
 percent. Although the Hispanic population grew
signicantly faster than the non-Hispanic popu-
popu-
and has since declined slightly (see Figure 8). lation from 2001 to 2013, its
i ts incarceration rate for murder fell
Between 1993 and 2013, the total incarcerated population less than half as much as the non-Hispanic rate over that period.
rose by about 878,000, or 61 percent, while the US population
rose by only 22 percent. Since the last “Color of Crime” (2002 Table 7. Prisoners Under State Jurisdiction
data), the total inmate count is up by 201,000, or 10 percent. Sentenced for Violent Crimes, 2001 and 2013
The incarceration rate peaked at 788 per 100,000 US residents 2001 2013 % change
in 2007 and declined to 730 by 2013. This is practically identi-
cal to the rate of 732 for 2002. Number
Federal prisoner data are no longer available by oense and White 208,100 223,900 7.6%
race.5 However, our primary interest is in violent crime, which
is almost always handled in state courts. As shown in Table Black 267,800 282,100 5.3%
7, the state prison population sentenced for violent crimes Hispanic 102,600 162,300 58.2%
increased by about 18 percent since the last “Color of Crime” Other 17,600 36,500 107.4%
report. (There is an increase because this i s a comparison with
2001 gures; a comparison with 2009 gures would show a Total 596,100 704,800 18.2%
decrease.) Percent of total
 Hispanics and “others” were thet he fastest growing incarcer-
ated categories: up 58 percent and 107 percent, respectively. White 34.9% 31.8% -9.0%
Part of the rise in “others” reects a statistical reclassica - Black 44.9% 40.0% -10.9%
tion: Prisoners who identied themselves as being of “two or
Hispanic 17.2% 23.0% 33.9%
more” races were counted as “others” in 2013. The multi-race
category did not exist in 2001. Other 3.0% 5.2% 72.6%
Blacks were the only group to see a reduction in incarcera- Total 100.0% 100.0% 0.0%
tion rates, but the reduction was small, and blacks remained
far more likely to be incarcerated for violent crimes than any Incarceration rate (per 100,000 residents)
other group. The black violent-crime incarceration rate in 2013
White 105 113 7.6%
was 6.3 times that of the white rate. This does not necessarily
mean that blacks are 6.3 times more likely to commit violent Black 746 709 -5.0%
crimes, because prison time depends on the severity of the Hispanic 265 289 9.1%
crime as well as prior record.
Other 120 138 15.0%
Table
Table 8 on page 12 shows thet he change in incarceration rate
multiples from 2001 (the benchmark year for the last “Color Total 207 220 6.3%
of Crime”) to 2013. a. Includes Asians, American Indians, Pacic Islanders, and
While blacks were incarcerated at rates well above whites for 2012, persons of two or more races.
(and other groups) in 2013, their relative incarceration rates Data sources: Bureau of Statistics, “Prisoners in 2014,”
have come down for most oenses since 2001. In some cases Appendix Table 4 (2013); “Prisoners in 2002,” Table 15,
the black/white multiple has narrowed signicantly: a sharp  page 10 (2001).

 New Century Foundation - 11 - The Color of Crime

 Table 8. Multiples of White Incarceration Rate in State Prisons, 2001 and 2013
All crimes 2001 2013 % change All property crimes 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 7.14 5.27 -26.2% Black 5.00 3.45 -31.0%
Hispanic 2.48 2.06 -16.9% Hispanic 1.63 1.11 -31.9%
Other (a) 0.97 1.36 40.2% Other (a) 0.85 1.21 42.4%
All violent crimes 2001 2013 % change Burglary 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 7.10 6.26 -11.8% Black 4.97 4.11 -17.3%
Hispanic 2.52 2.55 1.2% Hispanic 1.65 1.38 -16.4%
Other (a) 1.14 1.22 7.0% Other (a) 0.91 1.37 50.5%
Murder 2001 2013 % change Larceny 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 8.26 7.53 -8.8% Black 6.44 1.26 -80.4%
Hispanic 2.76 2.55 -7.6% Hispanic 1.79 0.78 -56.4%
Other (a) 0.73 2.18 198.6% Other (a) 1.32 0.11 -91.7%
Manslaughter 2001 2013 % change Car theft 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 5.52 2.78 -49.6% Black 5.36 2.54 -52.6%
Hispanic 2.84 1.61 -43.3% Hispanic 3.11 1.87 -39.9%
Other (a) 1.71 4.72 176.0% Other (a) 0.39 1.07 174.4%
Rape/Sexual Assault 2001 2013 % change Fraud 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 2.77 2.51 -9.4% Black 4.20 2.62 -37.6%
Hispanic 1.19 1.67 40.3% Hispanic 0.93 0.61 -34.4%
Other (a) 0.90 1.02 13.3% Other (a) 0.39 1.45 271.8%
Other Property
Robbery 2001 2013 % change Crimes 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 14.74 13.10 -11.1% Black 4.17 2.27 -45.6%
Hispanic 3.93 3.49 -11.2% Hispanic 1.57 0.87 -44.6%
Other (a) 1.54 1.53 -0.6% Other (a) 0.73 2.43 232.9%
Assault 2001 2013 % change Drug Oenses 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 7.17 6.57 -8.4% Black 13.45 5.86 -56.4%
Hispanic 3.35 3.06 -8.7% Hispanic 4.20 2.07 -50.7%
Other (a) 1.59 0.24 -84.9% Other (a) 0.49 2.24 357.1%
Other Violent Crimes 2001 2013 % chang. Public Order (b) 2001 2013 % change
White 1.00 1.00 0.0% White 1.00 1.00 0.0%
Black 4.72 5.78 22.2% Black 4.99 6.07 21.6%
Hispanic 2.06 2.38 15.5% Hispanic 2.35 1.86 -20.9%
Other (a) 1.15 NA NA Other (a) 0.52 0.77 48.1%
a. Includes Asians, American
American Indians, Pacic Islanders, and, in 2013, persons of two or more races.
 b. Includes weapons, drunk driving,
driving, morals, and other public
public order oenses.
Data sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Prisoners in 2002,” Table 15, page 10 (2001); “Prisoners in 2014,” Appendix
Table 4 (2013).

 New Century Foundation - 12 - The Color of Crime

 crime ts the same lopsided pattern: Of the 256,074 violent
Table 9. Prisoners sentenced for murder in state pris- crimes involving those two groups, blacks were perpetrators
ons, 2001 and 2013 82.5 percent of the time. Unlike the nearly ve-fold dierence
20 0 1 2013 % Change in numbers between blacks and whites, there are only about 30
 percent more Hispanics than blacks.
blacks. The high
high black-aggress
black-aggressor
or
Number gure suggests that blacks may also deliberately target
t arget Hispan-
Hispan-
Hispanic 27,800 39,000 40.3% ics—perhaps even more than they target whites.
The imbalance can be expressed dierently: When whites
non-Hispanic 131,400 127,200 -3.2% commit violence they target other whites 82.4 percent of the
Total 159,200 166,200 4.4% time, blacks 3.6 percent of the time,
t ime, and Hispanics 7.8 percent
Percent of total of the time. In other words, white violence is directed over-
whelmingly at other whites. When blacks commit violence
Hispanic 17.5% 23.5% 34.4% only a minority—40.9 percent—of their victims are black.
non-Hispanic 82.5% 76.5% -7.3% Whites are 38.6 percent and Hispanics are 14.5 percent. His-
Total 100.0% 100.0% 0.0%  panic assailants also attack their own group less often than
they attack others. Their victims are: Hispanics—40.1 percent,
per 100,000 residents whites—50.7 percent, and blacks—4.7 percent.
Hispanic 72 70 -2.8% Finally, interracial crime can be expressed in terms of the
greater or lesser likelihood of a person of one race to commit
non-Hispanic 53 48 -9.0%
violence against a member of the other. In 2012/2013, the
Total 55 52 -5.5% actual likelihood of attack was extremely low in all cases,
Data source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 2014, Ap-  but statistically, any given black
bl ack person was 27 times more
 pendix Table 4, (2013); Prisoners in 2002, Table 15, page 10. (2001) likely to attack a white and six times more likely to attack a
Hispanic than vice versa. A Hispanic was eight times more
Interracial Crime likely to attack a white than the reverse.
As noted above, in 2009, the US Justice Department’s Na- The Department of Justice keeps national records on mur-
tional Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) stopped publishing der . In 2013, it reported 5,621 single-oender, single-victim
data on the races of criminals.
criminal s. Recently, however, gures from cases in which the race of the murderer was known. Li ke most
the 2013 NCVS were
NCVS were released in which blacks, whites, and federal statistics, there is no clear distinction between whites
Hispanics were, for the rst time,
t ime, treated separately. and Hispanics, so the only meaningful racial categories are
From these data it can be calculated, rst, that a great deal  black and non-black. Blacks killed 2,698 people—48
people—48 percent
of violent crime—40 to 60 percent—is committed within the of the total—and non-blacks killed 2,923 or 52 percent. Since
races. However, when violence crosses racial lines it does so  blacks were just 13.3 percent of the population, it meant a
in a very unequal manner. In 2012 and 2013, blacks commi t-  black was six times more likely
l ikely than a non-black to commit
ted an annual average of 560,600 crimes of violence against murder. Although most murders are within the same race,
whites whereas whites committed only about 99,400 such  blacks were 13.6 times more likely to kill non-blacks than
crimes against blacks. This means blacks were the attackers in non-blacks were to kill blacks.
84.9 percent of the violent crimes involving blacks and whites.
Some observers argue that the overwhelming
overwhelmi ng preponderance Police Killings of Blacks
of black-on-white over white-on-black violence suggests that There has been considerable concern about police killings
of blacks, especially after Ocer Darren Wilson shot Michael
Brown on Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. Ocer Wil- Wil -
son is white and Brown was black and unarmed. Although
an extensive investigation
investigation   by the Department of Justice
found that Ocer Wilson acted appropriately in response to
Brown’s
Brown’s physical attacks and subsequent threats, the shooting
 provoked riots and gave impetus to the Black Lives Li ves Matter
movement, which claims that racist police ocers routinely
kill unarmed blacks.
This claim has been dicult to verify, since there are no
national statistics on police shootings. Moreover, as noted
above, broad arrest statistics and academic studies do not sup-
 blacks deliberately target whites
whi tes for violence. Others argue  port the view that arrests are biased,
bi ased, so there is little reason
that since there are 4.7 times
tim es as many whites as blacks in the
t he to think shootings would be biased. The Black Lives Matter
 population, it is to be expected that black criminals are more movement has not been driven by data but by the deaths of
likely to encounter white victims than vice versa. specic people such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir
Both positions must be evaluated in light of several con- Rice, Sandra Bland, and Freddie Gray.
siderations. First, blacks who commit assault, robbery, and Freddie Gray’s death, due to injuries after his arrest in
rape are likely to be members of the underclass, who live in Baltimore, also provoked riots and was taken up with great
largely black neighborhoods. If they chose victims without energy by Black Lives Matter. Three of the six ocers charged
ocers charged
regard to race they should be more likely to encounter other in Gray’s death were black—and they were charged with
 blacks rather than whites. Second, black/Hispanic interracial the most serious crimes—but the incident is still cited as an

 New Century Foundation - 13 - The Color of Crime

 example of police racism. in San Francisco found
Francisco found that blacks were 9.6 times more likely
In the absence of government data, the Washington Post  than whites (including Hispanics) to be charged with resisting
investigated every reported case of a fatal shooting 
shooting  by the arrest, and whites were 8.6 times more likely than Asians to be
 police during 2015. It found 990 cases, with the following so charged. In Chicago, from September 2014 to September
racial distribution of victims: 2015, blacks accounted for 77 percent of arrests for obstruction
for obstruction
White: 50.0 percent (495 victims) of justice and resisting arrest (page
arrest (page 4 of report), meaning they
Black: 26.1 percent (258) were 6.8 times more likely than non-blacks to be arrested on
Hispanic: 17.4 percent (172) these charges. If these ndings are typical, they help explain
Asian: 1.4 percent (14) why the arrest of a black non-felony suspect—who would
Other/Unknown: 5.2 percent (51) more than likely be unarmed—could escalate into potentially
Given their proportions in the population, a black person lethal violence.
was 2.45 times more likely than a white person to be shot and The Post ’s
’s analysis was intended to throw light on police
killed by police, a Hispanic was 1.24 times more likely,
likely, and an  bias but failed to indicate the races of the ocers involved
Asian was only one third as likely. It is reasonable to expect in fatal shootings. This would be useful information. A 2015
 people of dierent races to nd themselves in potentiallypotentiall y Department of Justice study (page
study (page 3) of police shootings in
lethal confrontations with the police in proportion to their Philadelphia found racial dierences in “threat perception
likelihood to commit violent crime, with blacks most likely failure,” that is, cases in which an ocer shot an unarmed
and Asians least likely. suspect because the ocer thought the suspect was armed.
As noted in Table 4 above, in California—a large state Black ocers were nearly twice as likely as white ocers
that keeps consistent statistics on race and ethnicity—blacks to shoot an unarmed black (11.4 percent of all shootings by
are arrested for violent crimes at 5.35 times the white rate,  black ocers vs. 6.8 percent
percent of
of all shootings
shootings by
by white ocers).
ocers).
and Hispanics at 1.42 times the white rate. The low likeli- The percentage of such errors by Hispanic ocers—16.7
hood of Asians being killed by police is in keeping with low  percent—was even higher.
higher.
Asian arrest rates for violent crime. The black and Hispanic Black ocers may be somewhat more prone to error in
multiples for police shooting deaths are well wit hin the arrest general. About 12 percent 
percent  of police ocers in the United
multiples—the black multiple is less than half—and certainly States are black. Between 2005 and 2015, 16.6 percent of the
do not suggest undisciplined police violence. 54 ocers criminally
ocers criminally charged for fatally shooting someone
Moreover, FBI data show that from 2005 to 2014, blacks while on duty were black.
accounted for 40 percent of police
of police killings.
killings. Since blacks were Homicide is a serious problem for black men. Since at least
approximately 13 percent of the population, it meant they 2002 and
2002  and up to 2013
2013 (the
 (the latest data available), murder was
were 4.46 times more likely than people of other races to kill the leading cause of death for black men, ages 15 to 34. Their
a police ocer.
ocer. murderers are almost always other black men. According to a
In its study, the Post  found
 found that men were 22.9 times more Department of Justice report,
report , (page 13), from 1980 to 2008,
likely than women to be shot and killed by ocers. No one 93 percent of black homicide victims were killed by blacks.
suggests that law enforcement bias accounts for this huge mul- By contrast, the 256 police judicial killings of blacks in
tiple, which is undoubtedly caused by dierences in behavior 2015 would be only 4.2 percent of the t he 6,095 blacks who were
 between men and women. In the case of racial multiples, police murdered in 2014 
2014  (the most recent year for which national
 bias cannot be ruled out, but it is reasonable to assume that data are available). The 38 unarmed  blacks
  blacks killed by police
the multiples are explained by race dierences in behavior. accounted for just 0.6 percent. Police shootings of unarmed
The Washington Post  noted
  noted further that all but 93 of the  blacks is a very small problem compared to murder in the
990 people fatally shot by police were armed, usually with  black community.
a rearm or knife. The unarmed victims had the following
racial distribution: Immigrants and Crime
White: 34.4 percent (32 victims) When Donald Trump announced his candidacy  candidacy   for the
Black: 40.8 percent (38) Republican nomination on June 16, 2015, he said of Mexican
Hispanic: 19.4 percent (18) immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.
Asian: 0 percent (0) They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Unknown: 5.4 percent (5) This caused much controversy, not least because even pro-
An unarmed black was therefore 5.6 times more likely than fessional criminologists have diculty quantifying immigrant
an unarmed white to be shot by police, and a Hispanic was criminality. Prisons can easily determine the race and ethnicity
2.6 times more likely. The black multiple is certainly high, of inmates but determining immigration status is harder be-
though not that much higher than t han the California violent-arrest cause it is generally based on self-reporting. Convicted felons
multiple of 5.35 noted above. are not eager to admit they are not citizens because they could
There is no obvious explanation for why unarmed  blacks  blacks  be deported after they are
are released. So-called sanctuary cities
were shot and killed at a white multiple that was twice that forbid local police departments even from asking prisoners
for armed  blacks.
 blacks. If police bias is the cause, there is no clear about immigration status.
reason why it should be worse in the case of unarmed suspects. Despite the diculty in determining immigrant crime rates,
The sample size of 93 is small, so random events produce a Hispanics have higher crime rates than the majority white
large eect.  population, and many immigrants
immi grants are Hispanic. Immigrants
It may be that race dierences in how suspects behave when are people whom the United States chooses to admit to its
they are arrested explain at least part of the dierence. There territory. If the selection process were perfect, no criminals
are no national data, but a ve-year study of non-felony
of non-felony arrests would be admitted and the immigrant crime rate would be

 New Century Foundation - 14 - The Color of Crime

 zero. For immigrants to have even low crime rates reects drug use and then checked their answers against the results of
 poorly on immigration policy. urine- or hair-analysis tests.
Illegal immigrants are, by denition, not even selected, and A 2005 study in the Journal of Urban Health, for example,
Urban Health
there are only partial data on illegal immigrants, the crimes found that blacks were ten times more likely than whites to li e
they commit, and where they are from. The Department of about cocaine use. Hispanics were ve times more likely to lie.
Justice’s State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) There were similar dierences in reported use of marijuana.
reimburses prisons and jails for the costs of holding illegal The study concluded that “the results replicate and extend a
aliens. Prison systems must document the immigration status growing body of research suggesting that African Americans
of inmates to get SCAAP payments—sanctuary jurisdictions underreport substance use on surveys.” Studies from 2003 2003,,
choose to forego this
t his subsidy. 2008,, and as long ago as 1994
2008 1994 report
 report similar ndings, though
In a 2011 report, “Criminal
“Criminal Alien Statistics,”
Statistics,” the Govern- one from 2001
2001 found
 found ambiguous results.
ment Accountability Oce studied the 249,000 illegal aliens There is other evidence that drug use is not the same across
for whom SCAAP funds were paid in 2009. It found that racial groups. The US Department of Health and Human
this group of aliens had been arrested a total of 1.7 million Services keeps
Services  keeps records of how many people of dierent races
times— an average of roughly seven arrests per illegal alien went to emergency rooms because of an acute reaction to il-
inmate—and had been charged with 2.9 million separate of- legal drugs. In 2011, the most recent year for which data are
fenses, or roughly 12 oenses each. available, blacks were 2.8 times more likely than whites to
All told, these criminal aliens accounted for the following end up in the ER because of marijuana, and seven times more
numbers of arrests for the following crimes: likely because of cocaine. For all drugs, the multiple was 3.5.
Homicides: 25,064 There is no reason to think these gures reect anything other
Sex oenses: 69,929 than dierent rates of illegal drug use.
Assaults: 213,047 Ever since receiving home rule in 1975, Washington, D.C.,
GAO found that about 66 percent of the SCAAP criminal has had a black mayor and most of its police chiefs have been
illegal aliens in state prisons were born in Mexico and another  black. In any given year, as many as two-thirds of its police
17 percent were born in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, ocers are black. And yet, in 2010, a black district resident
Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, or Jamaica. Local jail inmates was 8 times more likely than
likely than a white resident to be arrested for
were even more heavily Mexican. Seventy percent w ere born marijuana possession. It is hard to imagine this was because of
in Mexico, while another 13 percent were from other Latin  police discrimination
discrimination rather
rather than
than dierences
dierences in marijuana use.
American countries. The operating costs (prison sta salaries, Finally, it would be possible for blacks to be no more likely
medical care, food, utilities) of incarcerating these criminal than whites to use drugs but still be arrested more often for
illegal aliens in state prison systems totaled $7 billion for s-
s- using them, even by scrupulously race-neutral police. That
cal years 2003 through 2009. This gure obviously does not is because blacks commit a larger number of other crimes. If
include the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens in sanctuary someone is arrested for robbery, for example—and in Califor-
 jurisdictions because those costs are unknown. nia blacks were more than 13 times more likely than whites
to be arrested for robbery—the police search the suspect for
Race and Drug Arrests drugs. If they nd drugs they add a charge of possession in
It is often claimed that blacks suer unfairly from the addition to robbery. Higher rates of illegal activity expose
enforcement of drug laws, and it is true that longer sentences  blacks to more intense criminal processing.
for possession of crack cocaine rather than powder fell more In any case, since the last “Color of Crime,” the black/
heavily on blacks. As a 1997 report
report from
 from the University of white incarceration multiple for drug oenses has declined
Chicago notes:  by nearly 60 percent (see Table 8, page 12). This Thi s probably
reects the government’s response to prison overcrowding as
From 1965 through the early 1980s, blacks were ap-
well as a reorientation of enforcement activity in the War on
 proximately twice as likely as whites to be arrested for
Drugs rather than a decline in police bias.
drug-related oenses . . . . Following the federal gov-
gov -
ernment’s initiation of the “War on Drugs,” black arrest
Crime and Punishment
rates skyrocketed, while white arrest rates increased
High incarceration rates combined with declines in violent
only slightly. By the end of the 1980s, blacks were more
crime suggest that incarceration reduces crime. Those who
than ve times more likely than whites to be arrested for
disagree with this conclusion argue that if one criminal is
drug-related oenses. . . . [T]hese dierences reect the
locked up, another will simply take his place. However,
government’s
government’s targeting and enforcement of specic types
criminals do not wait for a competitor to leave the business.
of drug use and tracking. 6
Opportunities for violence and theft are virtually unlimited.
Even setting aside the question of crack versus powder A second argument against mass incarceration is based
cocaine, it is often claimed that blacks suer from police
from police bias on the theory of diminishing returns. As incarceration rates
in drug arrests. It is common to allege that although blacks go higher, police start scraping the bottom of the criminal
and whites use marijuana at roughly the same rate, blacks are  barrel. The marginal prisoner becomes less and less dangerous
nearly four times more
times more likely than whites to be arrested for compared to those already behind bars.
 possession. In fact, the chances of a criminal being caught and sent to
The assumption that whites and blacks take drugs at the  prison are very low.
low. Even the JFA
JFA Institute, an anti-incarcera-
anti-incarcera-
same rate is based on answers to survey questions. However, tion advocacy group, estimates
estimat es that in only 3 percent of violent
there is evidence that blacks are less likely than whites to report or property crimes do oenders end up in prison. According
According to
illegal drug use. A number of studies have asked subjects about the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in 2004 only 1.6 percent

 New Century Foundation - 15 - The Color of Crime

 of burglars were in prison. rioters. The riots also led to the indictment in May of the six
Recidivism rates are strong evidence that incarceration pre- ocers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. Baltimore police
vents crime. The BJS
BJS tracked
 tracked 404,638 state prisoners released felt betrayed by charges that some legal experts considered
in 2005. Within one year, 43.4 percent had been rearrested. unreasonable.. A number of department veterans predicted that
unreasonable
This percentage grew with every succeeding year, rising to demoralized ocers would take fewer risks and that there
76.7 percent at the end of ve years. At that point, the released would be a spike in crime.
crime. That is exactly what happened.
 prisoners had been arrested a total of 1,173,000 times, or an Whatever the cause, the extraordinary decline
decli ne in crime rates
average of 2.9 times each. These gures do not include the since the 1990s may have come to an end.
estimated 12 to 15 crimes a felon commits every year when
he is not imprisoned and that do not result in an arrest.7  Endnotes
Many people believe that prisons are lled with non-violent
drug oenders. It is true that half of federal prisoners are 1. We present “Two or more races” as a separate victim
guilty of drug crimes— almost
almost always tracking —but they group in 2013 because the NCVS breaks it out that way. As
account for only 13 percent of the nation’s prison population, noted below, however, incarceration gures published by the
with the rest in state prison. Casual drug use almost never Bureau of Justice Statistics lump all non-Hispanic prisoners of
results in a prison term. In 2013, according to the Bureau of  “Two
“Two or more races” into the “Other, non-Hispanic” category.
category.
Justice Statistics (page
Statistics (page 15 of report), only 3.7 percent of state Had we done this in the above table, violent victimization
 prisoners were convicted only of drug possession, and this of “Other, non-Hispanics” would have risen by 190 percent
was generally the result of a plea bargain to avoid charges of since 2002. In fact, there are undoubtedly people who i denti-
tracking. Most had long prior records. Only 12.2 percent of ed themselves as white or black in 2002 who would chose
state prisoners were convicted even of tracking. Fully 53.8 “Two or more races” in 2013. To the extent that this is true,
 percent of state prisoners were guilty of violent crimes, and the decline in white and black victimization rates in the table
18.8 percent had committed property crimes. is overstated.
America’s high incarceration rate is nothing to be proud 2. High crime rates among blacks are not limited to the
of, but any signicant reduction in the inmate population is United States. Statistics released by the Metropolitan Police in
likely to release large numbers of unreformed criminals who London,, England, show that in 2009/10 blacks accounted for
London
will prey on law-abiding people of all races. 54 percent of arrests for street crimes, 59 percent for robbery,
and 67 percent for gun crimes. Blacks accounted for just over
A Ferguson Eect? 12 percent of London’s population of 7.5 million.
The year 2015 ended on a worrying note. National gures Likewise, according to information that had to be sought
for all index crimes had not yet been compiled at the time this through a freedom-of-information request, in 2002, blacks
report was completed, but one crime had clearly reversed its were 8.1 percent of the population of Toronto
Toronto,, Canada, but
decades-long downward trend: murder. In the most populous accounted for 27 percent of all charges for violent crimes.
American cities, murder increased at the following rates over 3. “Other, non-Hispanic” victims of violent crime are also
2014: far less likely to report their victimizations to police: only
 New York
York City:
City: 5 percent 12.8 percent of
percent of them did so in 2013, according to the NCVS.
Los Angeles:
Angeles: 10 percent The average reporting rate for all victims that year was 44.3
Chicago:: 13 percent
Chicago  percent.
Houston:: 23 percent
Houston 4. For the best argued
argue d case for this view, see Ron Unz, “His-
Philadelphia:: 12 percent
Philadelphia  panic,” The
The American Conservative, March 2010.
 American Conservative 2010.
In Baltimore
Baltimore,, murders were up a shocking 63 percent 5. The source for federal prison inmates cited in the earlier
and gun violence (including
violence (including non-fatal shootings) was up 75 “Color of Crime,” the Compendium of  Federal Federal Justice Sta-
Sta -
 percent. Washington, D.C., D.C., saw an increase of 54 percent. tistics, is no longer published. Current federal inmate data are
In Milwaukee
Milwaukee,, murders were up 65 percent in 2015, and 91 available, in database format, from the National
the  National Archive of 
 percent of the victims were either black (83 percent) or His- Criminal Justice Data (NACJD).
Data (NACJD). Ten years ago NACJD les
 panic (8 percent). Detroit
Detroit bucked
 bucked the trend and saw a decline were available to the public; today
t oday access is restricted. In any
of 1.3 percent. event, the state prison population is about six times larger than
There was some speculation that the overall rise was caused the federal prison population. It is not surprising, therefore, that
 because of less
less active
active policing,
policing, or “de-policing.” Ocers may our 2013 incarceration rate multiples for blacks and Hispan-
have been unwilling to take risksri sks in crime prevention for fear ics, which are based on state prison inmates alone, are very
that even a slight misstep could come under career-ending close to the multiples in the earlier report, which were based
scrutiny.
scrutiny. This was known as “the “the Ferguson eect.”
eect.” The ocer on combined state and federal inmates.
who shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, was forced 6. Robert J. Sampson and Janet L. Lauritsen, “Racial and
out of his job because of media coverage and public protest Ethnic Disparities in Crime and Criminal Justice in the United
even though a Justice Department study later found that he had States,” Crime and Justice, University of Chicago Press, 1997,
acted properly.
properly. The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement  page 327.
and harsh anti-police rhetoric 
rhetoric  also put police under intense 7. Paul G. Cassell, “Too
“Too Severe? A Defense of the Federal
scrutiny, which may have led to less aggressive crime ghting. Sentencing Guidelines,” Stanford Law Review, 56 (2004):
Baltimore appears to have suered from the Ferguson 1017-48.
eect. There was a sharp rise in gun violence in the months
after the riots of
riots of April, 2015, during which the police did not
arrest looters because they were told not to “engage“ engage”” with

 New Century Foundation - 16 - The Color of Crime

 About the author

Edwin S. Rubenstein is the president of ESR Research. He has worked

as a senior economist at W.R. Grace & Co., and as research director at
the Hudson Institute. His articles have appeared in  Harvard Business
 Review,
 Review, New York Times, Wall Jou rnal, and Investor’s
Wall Street Journal, and Investor’s Business
 Daily. He is the author of two books: The Right Data and
 Daily. Data and From
 From the Em-
 pire State to the Vampire Transition.
Vampire State: New York in a Downward Transition.
New Century Foundation
Box 527
Oakton, VA 22124

(703) 716-0900