In 1993 a Justice Department study tracked the experience of more than 10,000 accused felons in America’s 75 largest cities found that black defendants fared better than their white counterparts—66% of black defendants were actually prosecuted, versus 69% of white defendants; among those prosecuted, 75% of blacks were convicted, as compared to 78% of whites.[8] Similarly, a 1996 analysis of 55,000 big-city felony cases found that black defendants were convicted at a lower rate than whites in 12 of the 14 federally designated felony categories.[9] This finding was consistent with the overwhelming consensus of other, previous, well-designed studies, most of which indicated that black defendants were slightly less likely to be convicted of criminal charges against them than white defendants.[10] In 1997, liberal criminologists Robert Sampson and Janet Lauritsen conducted a painstaking review of the voluminous literature on charging and sentencing, and concluded that “large racial differences in criminal offending,” and not racism, explained why proportionately more blacks than whites were in prison—and for longer terms.[11]
The foregoing realities remain as true today as they were two and three decades ago. Even though a massive industry, devoted entirely to uncovering any trace evidence of bias in the justice system, has arisen in America’s law schools and the civil-rights establishment, the net result of its cumulative efforts has been nothing more than an occasional study indicating a miniscule, unexplained racial disparity in sentencing, while most other analyses continue to find no racial effect at all.
Of course, one could never learn any of this from the “civil rights leaders” who were apparently struck mute in the aftermath of an April 3rd shooting that occurred outside a south Phoenix Taco Bell restaurant, where a 22-year-old black motorist at the drive-through window got into an altercation with Daniel Adkins, a 29-year-old, mentally disabled “white Hispanic” pedestrian. The argument grew heated, and the driver shot and killed Adkins. When police arrived at the scene, the gunman reported that Adkins had swung a bat or metal pipe at him. Though no such items were ever found at the scene, an independent witness reported that Adkins had swung his fists in the driver’s direction several times. Arizona, like Florida, has a “Stand Your Ground” law that allows a person to use deadly force when faced with a life-or-death confrontation. The gunman accordingly claimed that he had acted in self-defense, and thus he was not arrested.
While Daniel Adkins’ death was undeniably a human tragedy, it is quite conceivable that from a legal standpoint, the gunman, if in fact he felt that his life was in danger, acted within the bounds of the law. What is noteworthy, however, is that few Americans have ever heard of Daniel Adkins. Jackson and Sharpton have said nothing about him. Famous athletes and entertainers have not “tweeted” about him. And President Obama has felt no compulsion to exhort his countrymen, as he did in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing, “to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen.” Now, why do you suppose that is?
NOTES:
[1] Walter Olson, “Is It Really an Injustice System?” New York Post (September 30, 1996), p. 21. William Wilbanks, The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System (Monterey: Brooks/Cole, 1987), p. 6. Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom, America in Black and White (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), pp. 272-273.
[2] William Wilbanks, “Color Blind,” National Review (April 26, 1993), pp. 52-53.
[3] Ibid.
[4] John DiIulio, Jr., “My Black Crime Problem, and Ours,” City Journal (Spring 1996), p. 19.
[5] William Wilbanks, “Color Blind,” National Review (April 26, 1993), pp. 52-53.
[6] David Tuller, “Prison Term Study Finds No Race Link,” San Francisco Chronicle (February 16, 1990), p. 2. Heather MacDonald, “Is the Criminal-Justice System Racist?” City Journal (Spring 2008).
[7] Charles Logan and John DiIulio, Jr., “Ten Deadly Myths about Crime and Punishment in the U.S.” See Robert James Bidinotto, ed., Criminal Justice (Irvington-on-Hudson, New York: Foundation for Economic Education, 1994), p. 163.
[8] Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom, America in Black and White, p. 273.
[9] Walter Olson, “Is It Really an Injustice System?” New York Post (September 30, 1996), p. 21. Robert Lerner, “Acquittal Rates by Race for State Felonies,” in Gerald A. Reynolds, ed., Race and the Criminal Justice System (Washington, DC: Center for Equal Opportunity, 1996), p. 92.
[10] William Wilbanks, The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System, p. 98.
[11] Heather MacDonald, “Is the Criminal-Justice System Racist?” City Journal (Spring 2008).
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