A 2012 study led by Justin Pickett, assistant professor at the University of Albany, shows a not-so-surprising statistic that black Americans commit crimes at a much lower rate than what white Americans assume.
Showing the results in
the graph below, researchers placed the perceived percentage of crimes next to the actual percentage of crimes committed by blacks to prove that white people overestimate the involvement that blacks have in committing violent crimes, breaking into homes and businesses, robbing people at gunpoint, selling illegal drugs and committing crimes during their juvenile years.While the study, which pulls from a telephone survey of 1,575 adults conducted in Florida by the Research Network in 2005 and a
national sample of 961 respondents directed by Oppenheimer Research, may not accurately portray the thoughts of all white Americans, it’s a strong reflection of the perception the media has about blacks as shown in the numerous cases of blacks being criminalized after losing their life at the hands of law enforcement officials.Check the graph below to see exactly how the perceived percentage of black crimes compare to the actual percentage committed.
SOURCE: Washington Post