[o_p]

Could be true for trivial felonies like a ticket, but if we talk about real crime thats not really an excuse. Would be more inclined to think black people commit more crime because socioeconomic factors, as poverty correlates crime.

[crooked-v]

...which, even if true, would circle back to 'being black' being a correlation to but not causative of criminal records.

[andrewprock]

It really depends on how you define crime. Usually crime and prosecution is defined in such a way as to impact the lower classes more than the upper classes.

[twyasdfg]

Murder is rather easy to define. There is a dead body with holes in his/her head, there is a murder. The tragedy being that murder is way more prevalent in the black community, partly because of underpolicing.

[DoreenMichele]

I wouldn't be so fast with that assertion.

If your life is a cesspit and you can count on the authorities to be part of the problem, where does murder end and self defense begin?

See the song "I shot the sheriff." I'm most familiar with the Eric Clapton version, but googling it recently suggests to me it was originally written by Bob Marley.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Shot_the_Sheriff

[andrewprock]

This is a rather naive understanding. For example, there were nearly 3000 deaths in the 9/11 attacks, and about 4800 soldiers have died in the subsequent war with Iraq.

There are plenty of dead bodies with holes in their heads, but it's not clear how one accounts for crime among those 7800 dead.