The Willie Lawson Show  

Show Notes

• Archived Blog Post

  Date / Time: 4/14/2008 10:35 PM UTC

  Crime
  

  It was hard to hear!

  Here is what he said, "If it were your sole purpose to reduce crime, Bennett said, "You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.
  "That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down," he added. "
  
  The question is not should he have said it, but is it true. People say horrible things all the time. I try not to focus on that unless what they are saying is true. So lets look at the facts as they pertain to the 18 and under crowd.
  
  According to the FBI website in 2004 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/persons_arrested/table_38-43.html)
  
  of the 1,594,166 arrests made 28% were of blacks. Of the 1063 murder nonnegligent manslaughter arrests 528 or 49% were of blacks. Of rapes 35% of the arrests were of blacks. Of robberies 63%, were of blacks. What we seem to have a handle on is that only 3.7% of DUI arrests were of blacks. That might be because so many fewer black kids have cars.
  
  Well these are the numbers, not all of them but enough to give you a taste. No, black folks do not committ all or even most of the crime in this country. As a matter of fact, of the 10,021,050 arrests made 7,067,363 were of white people. White people are running amuck in this country and something has to be done!
  
  Back to Bill's statement. In the purest of ways I guess what he said is true. If there were no black youth 18 and under the crime rate would drop some 37%! The other part of what he said is also true, "That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."
  
  So now we have a choice. We can spend a great deal of time and energy on Bill Bennett, or try to find out why 12-15% of this country's population have been arrested for 28% of the crimes. Why our our kids are involved in 49% of the murders in the their age group!? Why are our kids are involved in 63% of the robberies in their age group? Why are our kids are involved in 35% of the rapes in their age group?
  
  These are all difficult questions. The most difficult part is that the problems and the answers all rest with us. Us, the community. Us, the church. Us, the school. Us, the parent.
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