Racial disparities in crime

In the United States, the relationship between race and crime has been a topic of public controversy and scholarly debate for more than a century. The crime rate varies between racial groups. Most homicides in the United States are non interracial, meaning the perpetrator and victim are of the same race.

Race and crime in the United States- from Wikipedia

Crime data sources
The Uniform Crime Reports represent the primary source of data used in the calculation of official statistics regarding serious crimes such as murder and homicide, which is supplemented by the information provided through the NCVS and self-report studies, the latter being the best indicator of actual crime rates for minor offenses such as illegal substance abuse and petty theft. These crime data collection programs provide most of the statistical information utilized by criminologists and sociologists in their analysis of crime and the extent of its relationship to race.

These programs are the best data we have on actual crime in the Unites States.

Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)
the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) program is a summary-based reporting system that collects data on crime reported to local and state law enforcement agencies across the US. This report includes: murder and non-negligent homicide; non-lethal violent crimes comprising robbery, forcible rape and aggravated assault. 94% of the total population is under jurisdiction. The data the FBI compiles includes information on the demographics of who is arrested every year.

Limitations of the UCR include


 * The UCR only relies upon local law enforcement agency crime reports, the UCR program can only measure crime known to police and cannot provide an accurate representation of actual crime rates.
 * The UCR tracks crime for the racial category of "White" to include both Hispanic and non-Hispanic ethnicities.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)
The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), is a national, representative, bi-annual survey done by the Department of Justice. It covers the frequency of crime victimization and the characteristics and consequences of victimization. The primary purpose behind the NCVS program is to gather information on crimes that were not reported to police, though information is also collected on reported crimes. The survey collects data on rape, assault, robbery among other things. Participants are asked if they have been the victim of a violent crime in the last 6 months. If they have then they are asked to answer various questions about the crime and the race of the offender of said crime. Interracial crime reporting discontinued during the Obama administration after 2008. These bi-yearly interviews are combined on a yearly basis, weighted to eliminate bias in the sample based on demographic variables like sex and age and then used to estimate national crime rates. There is no apparent incentive to lie on these surveys.

Limitations to the NCVS program include


 * The NCVS relies upon the recollection of the individuals surveyed, the NCVS cannot distinguish between true and fabricated claims of victimization, nor can it verify the truth of the severity of the reported incidents. (for example, if the victim is too traumatized to report)

Comparison of the UCR and NCVS
There are multiple studies and articles on how the UCR and NCVS generally align.


 * According to Vito, Maahs and Holmes 2006, there is a high degree of correspondence between the UCR and NCVS.
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 * According to Rand 2009, there is a high degree of correspondence between the UCR and NCVS
 * According to Walsh and Ellis 2006, there is a high degree of correspondence between the UCR and NCVS that extends to racial demography
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 * According to Zawitz et al. 1993, there is a high degree of correspondence between the UCR and NCVS that extends to racial demography
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 * According to Rennison 2001, there is a high degree of correspondence between the UCR and NCVS that extends to racial demography

Calculation of racial disparity of rapes, assaults, and robberies
If the NCVS is the best data we have on actual crime and the UCR is the best data we have on reported crime, we can compare the racial breakdown of offenders to the racial breakdown of the prosecuted regarding rape, robbery, and assault to see what the real crime rate of these racial groups are. Additionally, we can see if the police arrest racial groups at disproportionate rates. This section calculates the racial breakdown of rapes, assaults, and robberies, committed by blacks and whites in 2008 using “NCVS 2008”.

NCVS Data




The total number of crimes by race is calculated by:

(%X Race only*Single Offender Victimizations)+(X Race Only*Multiple Offender Victimizations)

(.2043,156,010)+(.22717,430)=801,660.64 Black Assaults

(.6093,156,010)+(.401717,430)=2,209,699.52 White Assaults (.321181,830)+(.52413,600)=65,493.83 Black Rapes

(.54181,830)+(.47613,600)=104,661.8 White Rapes (.42314,500)+(.530215,540)=246,326.2 Black Robberies

(.366314,500)+(.099215,540)= 136,445.46 White Robberies The rate of these crimes (how frequently each crime occurred among each race) is calculated by:

(Total Population of X Race/Crimes Committed by Race X).

In 2008, the population for blacks and whites respectively were 41,126,808 and 247,112,954 (41,126,808/801,660.64)=51.3 Black Assault Rate

(247,112,954/2,209,699.52)=111.831 White Assault Rate (41,126,808/65,493.83)=627.949 Black Rape Rate

(247,112,954/104,661.8)=2,361.062 White Rape Rate (41,126,808/246,326.2)=166.961 Black Robbery Rate

(247,112,954/136,445.46)=1,811.075 White Robbery Rate

UCR Data
We can compare this to the Uniform Crime Report in 2008:

(.2043,156,010)+(.22717,430)=801,660.64 Black Assaults

(.6093,156,010)+(.401717,430)=2,209,699.52 White Assaults (.321181,830)+(.52413,600)=65,493.83 Black Rapes

(.54181,830)+(.47613,600)=104,661.8 White Rapes (.42314,500)+(.530215,540)=246,326.2 Black Robberies

(.366314,500)+(.099215,540)= 136,445.46 White Robberies The rate of these crimes (how frequently each crime occurred among each race) is calculated by:

(Total Population of X Race/Crimes Committed by Race X).

In 2008, the population for blacks and whites respectively were 41,126,808 and 247,112,954 (41,126,808/801,660.64)=51.3 Black Assault Rate

(247,112,954/2,209,699.52)=111.831 White Assault Rate (41,126,808/65,493.83)=627.949 Black Rape Rate

(247,112,954/104,661.8)=2,361.062 White Rape Rate (41,126,808/246,326.2)=166.961 Black Robbery Rate

(247,112,954/136,445.46)=1,811.075 White Robbery Rate We can compare this to the Uniform Crime Report in 2008: Assaults will have to include aggravated assaults and other assaults since the NCVS’s assault category includes all (non sexual) forms of assault. (112,325+319,498)= 431,823 Black Assaults

(208,081+645,870)=853,951 White Assaults 5,428 Black Rapes

10,990 White Rapes 56,948 Black Robberies

41,962 White Robberies The rate of these crimes (how frequently each crime occurred among each race) is calculated by:

(Total Population of X Race/Crimes Committed by Race X).

In 2008, the population for blacks and whites respectively were 41,126,808 and 247,112,954 (41,126,808/431,823)=95.24 Black Assault Rate

(247,112,954/853,951)=289.38 White Assault Rate (41,126,808/5,428)=7576.79 Black Rape Rate

(247,112,954/41,962)=22485.26 White Rape Rates(41,126,808/56,948)=722.18 Black Robbery Rate

(247,112,954/41,962)=5888.87 White Robbery Rate

Comparison of NCVS and UCR data
We can find the White to Black ratio to calculate disparities:

(White Rate of Crime/ Black Rate of Crime)= White/Black Rate of Crime

NCVS: (1811.07/16.996)= 10.85 White/Black Rate of Robbery

(111.83/51.3)= 2.18 White/Black Rate of Assault

(2361.06/627.95)= 3.76 White/Black Rate of Rape UCR: (5,888.06/722.18)= 8.15 White/Black Rate of Robbery

(289.38/95.24)= 3.04 White/Black Rate of Assault

(22,485.26/7,576.79)= 2.97 White/Black Rate of Rape We then can measure how different the racial disparities reported by the NCVS and the UCR are by subtracting the NCVS disparity from the UCR disparity. 'A positive difference will indicate that the UCR over-estimates black crime relative to the NCVS. As can be seen below, most of the differences are actually negative suggesting that the UCR underestimates black crime relative to the NCVS.'

(UCR White/Black Rate of Crime- NCVS White/Black Rate of Crime)= Crime Difference between Whites and Blacks. (8.15-10.85)= -2.7 Robbery Difference

(3.04-2.18)= -0.86 Assault Difference

(2.97-3.76)= -0.79 Rape Difference

Analyzing data from 2000-2008
The following is previous years analyzed through the same process from 2000 to 2008. (All interracial crime reporting of this nature was illegal during and after the Obama presidency)



Total Averages from 2000-2008


According to the aggregate of data from 2000-2008, there is a negligible difference between the Uniform Crime Reports and the National Crime Victimization Survey when comparing robbery, assault, and rape.

Calculation of racial disparities of homicide
While critics can argue that police departments fudge numbers when reporting relatively smaller crimes like robbery, assault, and rape- critics must acknowledge that it is astronomically more difficult to under report murder or hide bodies. This tells us that police department reporting of homicide is generally accurate.

Statistics from the Bureau of Justice
"Based on available data from 1980 to 2008- Blacks were disproportionately represented as both homicide victims and offenders. The victimization rate for blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost 8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000)"



Cooper and Smith 2011

Statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (UCR)
The 2016 Uniform Crime Reports show that Blacks were disproportionately represented as homicide offenders

Comparison to victim surveys


Gallagher and Lippard 2014 p313

With all available evidence, it is obvious that there are racial disparities in personal violent crime.