Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race - Assignment Example

? Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race, A case study Basiru o Afolabi of Maryland College 09/22 It is critically observed that the crime rate that the African Americans committed might be an upshot of racial discrimination from the past. However, the role of NYPD is to strictly keep an eye on African Americans for the sake of crime prevention and mitigation program that they should employ for the public safety. For this reason, no unjustified racial tactics may be necessary on the part of NYPD, but a strong action of priority to look out for the violent ones, which would allow us to see Mac Donald so convincing with his claim if we try to figure out this way. The strong stand of Mac Donald (2010) is to disclose the crime rates before we could actually conclude that the New York Police Department (NYPD) may have actually oppressed the city’s black population or the minority with their so-called unjustified racial tactics. It is on this ground that in his article entitled “Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race: The New York Times Is At It Again” published in the City Journal he strongly disagreed the way how the New York Times may have falsely accused the NYPD of its ‘racist stop-and-frisk practices’ that was allegedly employed on the minority of the population, consisting the Blacks, Hispanic and other nationalities. Keywords: race, crime, racial discrimination, African Americans, NYPD, justice The strong stand of Mac Donald (2010) is to disclose the crime rates before we could actually conclude that the New York Police Department (NYPD) may have actually oppressed the city’s black population or the minority with their so-called unjustified racial tactics. It is on this ground that in his article entitled “Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race: The New York Times Is At It Again” published in the City Journal Mac Donald strongly opposed the way New York Times may have falsely accused the NYPD of its ‘racist stop-and-frisk practices’ that was allegedly employed on the minority of the population, consisting the Blacks, Hispanic and other nationalities. Mac Donald (2010) said, “You cannot properly analyze police behavior without analyzing crime”. Will this lead us to understanding why, as the Times claimed that in 2009 Blacks made up 55 percent of all stops even though they were only 23 percent of the city’s total population compared to the 10 percent of all stops for the Whites consisting the highest percentage of the population which was 35 percent by that time? Mac Donald has the answer. He presented the evidence that in the first half of 2009 in New York, Blacks already committed 66 percent of all the reported cases of violent crimes compared to the 5 percent among Whites by contrast. In addition, he added that Blacks committed 80 percent of all shootings in the first half of 2009 and 70 percent of all reported cases of robberies compared to the 1.8 percent for shootings and 5 percent robberies that whites committed, by contrast. This therefore according to Mac Donald should justify further why Blacks and Latinos were nine times as likely as whites to be stopped. Mac Donald suggested that the above facts should have been included in the report of Times in order to justify the truth behind why the cops are most likely to stop the minority of the population who were most of the time involved in the proliferation of crimes. In this tone of argument, Mac Donald is trying to convey the idea that Blacks could be more violent than Whites, which could further justify why the cops may have placed them as a higher priority for various crime-related investigations. Here where the actual issue of public policing may come in, which Mac Donald has also deliberately included in his argument. In line with his actual reasoning, it could be that the ultimate way to justify the action of the NYPD is to investigate the rate of crimes at present when police officers are active in mitigating the occurrence of crime especially that a significant number of stops took place among Blacks, Hispanics and other race counted in the minority of the population, who have been reported to have significant role in the inception of the involved crimes. Mac Donald (2010) argued that when there are various stops that may have been employed among Blacks with suspicious moves, the mitigation of the crime is of a higher possibility, which could mean decrease of the number of relevant actual crimes. His arguments would imply that these data should be of a remarkable interest before we could finally accuse the NYPD of its racist act against the minority. As this point, so far we have substantial information concerning the relevant stand of Mac Donald and his important proofs to support his entire arguments against the report of Times with all the intention to give critics against the NYPD. At some point, we could say that he is so far making sense when he wants us to know the crime rates before falsely accusing the NYPD of their racist stop-and-frisk practices. On the other hand, even though Mac Donald may have stronger points, there is also a remarkable flaw of his argument, which we are about to discuss next. Mac Donald was able to mention the relevance of the crime rates in the entire issue, and there is no question about that, as he was able to provide us a considerable point of view to ponder, but he failed to mention how we must define the crime rate and what it must have to consist of. Intuitively, what comes into our mind when one is accused of doing a crime is the presence of evidence beyond reasonable doubt. It was not part of the argument of Mac Donald how many of these Blacks or minority who were reported and found guilty of the crimes that were linked to them received a fair and just treatment upon the actual hearing of their case. Mac Donald casually concluded based on the available data of the NYPD that Blacks and other minority were generally involved in common violent, shootings and other related crimes. On the contrary, the critic will have question or interest in this information knowing the point that it is crucial in the justice system that everyone should receive fair treatment. It cannot be denied that at some point Blacks can claim receiving not enough just and fair treatment in the justice system upon the hearing of their individual cases. From the past, Blacks were vulnerable to racist acts and when they did wrong, they must be worthy and deserving of such condemnation from their White counterparts. These events of the human history are not only written in the book or research studies, but are shown in various movie films that feature racism and other relevant provocative issues in the justice system. In other words, enough evidence might not be necessary since many have witnessed how racism exists and how does it feel to be part of it. Blacks themselves have this remarkable claim for that matter, and so they could stand as living testimonies. After all, discrimination based on race is common in the US (Greene & Gabbidon, 2013). It is therefore of no surprise why Times would have a considerable conclusion concerning racism that according to them might have been obviously set against the Black or other minority by the NYPD. For this matter, it is crucial that we need to consider the real score behind crime and race. According to (Greene & Gabbidon, 2013) based on their research investigation on the impact of discrimination on delinquency, the perceived discrimination placed African American youths at risk for crime, which means that the experience of African Americans with racial bias may have substantial implication on criminogenic effects. If this claim has underlying truth with it, then the remarkable evidence that Mac Donald presented may actually have supported the research finding of Greene and Gabbidon, highlighting the fact that majority of the violent crimes committed as the NYPD documented have potentially been linked to African Americans. It turned out that the tone of voice of Mac Donald headed to present us the evidence showcasing the hidden fact, which showcases the idea that the only reason why African Americans may have been the critical subjects of crime prevention initiative of the NYPD is because of their associated involvement with the majority of the recognized crimes. However, it was not the full concern of Mac Donald to investigate further of the reasons behind why African Americans are mostly involved in violent crimes. On the other hand, based on his argumentative evidence and the tone of his voice, Mac Donald is trying to raise the idea that NYPD has never been racist on how they treat the African Americans especially on the number of stops they received compared to the Whites even though they only consist of the minority of the population in the organization. If we based it on the idea of Greene and Gabbidon (2013), Mac Donald may only have been presenting the evidence of racism in the US, knowing the point that discrimination may have potential impact on the level of youth delinquency, which at the bottom line is the inception of various recorded violent crimes. The actual number of crimes that the African Americans committed, provided that prior to their conviction, they received a just and fair trial is therefore a significant depiction of the potential influence of racism or discrimination on the creation of crime in the future. Furthermore, if we try to consider further the review of Greene and Gabbidon (2013) as cited from the work of Agnew, racial discrimination is highly likely to cause crime because of its high magnitude; it is viewed unjust; linked to low control; and has the potential to initiate pressure resulting to engagement in criminal coping. Provided there is a remarkable truth in this theoretical claim, Mac Donald’s evidence of the prevailing crime rate would therefore substantially complement the fundamental view of Times concerning racism. However, this is already beyond the context by which Mac Donald is trying to defend NYPD from its rumored unjustified racial tactics against the African Americans. At this point, it is clear that the crime rate that the African Americans committed might be an upshot of racial discrimination from the past. However, the role of NYPD is to strictly keep an eye on African Americans for the sake of crime prevention and mitigation program that they should employ for the public safety. For this reason, no unjustified racial tactics may be necessary on the part of NYPD, but a strong action of priority to look out for the violent ones, which would allow us to see Mac Donald so convincing with his claim if we try to figure out this way. References Gabbidon, S., & Greene, H. (2013). Race and Crime (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Mac Donald, H. (2010). Distorting the Truth About Crime and Race: The New York Times is at it again. City Journal, 20(3). Retrieved from http://www.city-journal.org/2010/eon0514hm.html Read More