Category: Data

The US is currently experiencing the second largest increase in crime since statistics began to be tabulated, the largest increase in crime being in the 1960s and 1970s. From “Crime in California 2016” Table 5, page 9 in document, page 13 in PDF, the total number of forcible rapes in California increased by 49.3% between 2014 (8,562) to 2016 (12,785). From Table 1, page 5 in the document, page 9 in the PDF:

• Homicides increased 13.7% between 2014 (1,697) and 2016 (1,930)
• Robberies increased 12.6% between 2014 (48,650) and 2016 (54,769)
• Aggravated Assault increased 13.8% between 2014 (91,681) and 2016 (104,307)

To better understand the massive US crime wave, I decided to calculate crimes committed  by various ethnic groups.

This article will use California crime data since US national level data on crime for Latino Americans and Asian Americans is usually not publicly released by the US government; perhaps for fear of what such data would show. I suspect that US and Canadian nationwide data would show similar trends. California demographic data by ethnicity is taken from 2015 US Census Bureau estimates. From “Crime in California 2016” Table 30, page 33 in document, page 37 in PDF, “Felony and Misdemeanor Arrests” 2016:

• Caucasions were 4.99 times more likely to be arrested than Asians
• Hispanics were 5.91 times more likely to be arrested than Asians
• Blacks were 17.04 times more likely to be arrested than Asians
• Non Asian Others (mostly native Americans) were 3.38 times more likely to be arrested than Asians

Arrest data by Asian country are also available; but Asians commit so few crimes that such data would be skewed by the law of small numbers. However you are free to research it yourself. The spreadsheet used for these calculations is available upon request.

Total crimes committed by caucasions, hispanics, blacks and “other” are released by category. “Other” is not broken down into Asian and non Asian other. However if we assume that non Asian others commit 3.38 times as much crime as Asians (a stretch to be sure), then:

Total homides by race from “Crime in California 2016” Table 31, page 34 in document, page 38 in PDF:

• Caucasions were 2.44 times more likely to commit homicide than Asians
• Hispanics were 4.44 times more likely to commit homicide than Asians
• Blacks were 17.23 times more likely to commit homicide than Asians

Total robbery by race:

• Caucasions were 4.63 times more likely to commit robbery than Asians
• Hispanics were 7.96 times more likely to commit robbery than Asians
• Blacks were 44.19 times more likely to commit robbery than Asians

Total rape by race:

• Caucasions were 3.13 times more likely to commit rape than Asians
• Hispanics were 5.44 times more likely to commit rape than Asians
• Blacks were 12.24 times more likely to commit rape than Asians

Total assault by race:

• Caucasions were 4.44 times more likely to commit assault than Asians
• Hispanics were 5.48 times more likely to commit assault than Asians
• Blacks were 15.44 times more likely to commit assault than Asians

Total kidnapping by race:

• Caucasions were 3.92 times more likely to commit kidnapping than Asians
• Hispanics were 6.52 times more likely to commit kidnapping than Asians
• Blacks were 18.42 times more likely to commit kidnapping than Asians

If we assume that non Asian others are 3.38 times more likely to be incarcerated than Asians, then from 12.31.2.10:

• Caucasions were 4.18 times more likely to be incarcerated than Asians
• Hispanics were 5.8 times more likely to be incarcerated than Asians
• Blacks were 25.2 times more likely to be incarcerated than Asians

Continue reading Is American culture sharply increasing crime?